The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

Ahhhhh, that old game. Another company tried the same angle in the early thirties putting out a line of "Amos 'n' Andy" brand work clothes -- and argued that since Amos and Andy were fictional characters, there was nothing Correll and Gosden or NBC could do about it. C&G immediately produced their trademark-registration papers, and that was the end of that.

I'd be surprised if Dressler's estate didn't try to do something similar. Although, individual estates, versus most companies, can have so much infighting and dysfunction, that maybe they didn't do anything. However, my experience is that where there is money, somehow, everyone can agree enough to fight to get the money (so that they can then later fight amongst themselves as to how to divide it up).

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Senate Military Affairs Committee today voted to send to the full Senate the Burke-Wadsworth conscription bill requiring the registration of approximately 12,000,000 men between the ages of 21-30. The 12-3 committee vote for the measure, which carries the endorsement of both Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and President Roosevelt, now opens the way to Senate debate which is expected to feature considerable opposition.

Meanwhile, the Army is said to be seriously considering a plan to convert the World's Fair site in Flushing to a training center for military conscripts, in the even the conscription bill is enacted. Barracks would be constructed on the grounds to accommodate conscripted troops and facilities would be constructed for training purposes. Major Julius C. Holmes, now participating in training exercises in Ogdensburg, says the Fair would be an ideal site for a training center given its proximity and ease of access to the city. Major Holmes served in 1939 as an aide to Fair president Grover Whalen.

President Roosevelt called today on Congress and state legislatures to join in enacting companion legislation intended to create a nationwide counterespionage system that would protect the nation against sabotage of key facilities by foreign spies. Attorney General Robert Jackson, who read the President's message in the absence of the Chief Executive, warned that the Nazis are attempting to "soften" the United States with "promises of business orders and of profits."

"Poker Face Elsie" Feinstein has been released from jail, where she has been held as a material witness in the suspected death of her mobster husband, Samuel "Tootsie" Feinstein, but District Attorney William O'Dwyer intends to see her back behind bars until and unless she tells him what he wants to know. Mrs. Feinstein has been held for three months at the Women's House of Detention after refusing to identify the source of $50 weekly payments she has been receiving since her husband vanished fifteen months ago. "Tootsie" Feinstein is presumed the victim of a rub-out, but his wife -- or widow -- isn't talking. Mrs. Feinstein was freed on a writ of habeas corpus and was immediately arrested on a perjury charge.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney claims that "prominent Hollywood personalities" are complicit in a Communist plot to overthrow the government and murder automaker Henry Ford unless he agrees to join their revolution. District Attorney Buron Fitts says he will reveal details of this plot to a grand jury following a 22-month investigation of Communist influence in the city.

A 39-year-old bank clerk from Flatbush pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace after he was arrested for giving the Hitler salute in a stationery store. Thomas Broderick claimed that he didn't remember giving the salute and shouting "Heil Hitler" in the shop at 1653 Bedford Avenue, but if he did, he said he was sorry. Shop owner Max Mandelbaum refused to accept the apology or drop the complaint.

("The flag should never be used as wearing apparel." -- U. S. Flag Code, 4.8.(b))

A fake fakir blew powdered incense into the face of a Queens housewife, and took advantage of her confusion to steal $15 from her apron pocket. Alizee Sadou, alias Professor Deli Sultan, claimed to be demonstrating the incense when he called at the door of Mrs. Eloyse Kitt in Rockaway on July 10th, and claimed he only took the $15 in payment for that incense. The 44-year-old Sadou has been arrested five times on similar charges, and served a two-month jail term in Baltimore in 1932.

Now at the REFRESHINGLY COOL Patio, it's Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor in "Waterloo Bridge," paired with "Dr Cyclops" -- in Technicolor!

Miss Leigh, named as co-respondent in the divorce trial of Jill Esmond and Lawrence Olivier, will be free to the marry the latter six months from August 19th, with a final divorce decree in the case expected to be issued on that date.

("I got the idea from this guy in Scarsdale!")

The body of Cincinnati Reds catcher Willard Hershberger has been shipped home to Visalia, California for burial. The 29-year-old ballplayer killed himself in his Boston hotel room on Saturday. His only survivor is his widowed mother, a postal worker in the town of Three Rivers, near Visalia. Reds players wore black mourning bands on their uniforms yesterday for the concluding game of their series in Boston, and the flag at National League Field flew at half staff.

(THEY DIDN'T CALL HIM "FAT!")

The Dodgers ended their weekend series with the Cubs with the sinking feeling that comes with missing the boat, as the Flock split a Sunday doubleheader to Chicago. Both Brooklyn starting pitchers got hammered hard, with Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons getting knocked out of the box without even getting out of the first inning in the opener, which the Dodgers lost 11-3. Hugh Casey was ill-treated in the night cap, giving up four runs in four innings before getting the hook. Durocher threw everything he had at the Cubs, and in a rage he benched the slumping Medwick, Lavagetto, and Coscarart entirely for the second game, which the Dodgers managed to win 7-6 in eleven innings on timely hitting by Pee Wee Reese and Dolph Camilli.

Branch Rickey of the Cardinals was in the stands for the doubleheader, and when he saw Ducky Medwick's lackadaisical performance in the opening game, he sniffed. "That's not Medwick," he declared. "That's not the Medwick I've known for seven years," the Medwick Mr. Rickey sent to Brooklyn for $200,000 in June. Since acquiring the Muscular Magyar, the Dodgers have won 26 games and lost 25. Pre-Medwick, the Flock soaked the National League at a 30-15 clip. It's certain at this point in the season that if Medwick can't halt his new tendency to pull away from pitches, his days as a great hitter are over, and the Dodgers, for their 200 grand, have "just a guy named Joe" on their hands.

The Dodgers open a series with the Giants with a night game tonight at Ebbets Field, and there are box seats still available in the lower left field and upper center field sections. 17,000 general admission tickets will go on sale in the Marble Rotunda at 5:30 pm.

There are rumors that the Dodgers will soon hold a "Fred Fitzsimmons Day," and if ever there was a Dodger who deserved a day, it's Fat Freddie. His 10-2 pitching record doesn't begin to describe his many contributions to the club, and his acquisition in 1937 has to go down as one of the all-time-great Dodger deals.

(Baseball and a Murder-For-Hire plot? That's a promising start.)

(Some swami. Where's your incense?)

(How does a political operator hire a detachment of storm troopers, anyway? Are they listed in the Yellow Pages?)

(Hey, whatever happened to Kay and the kid and the dog? Will we ever see them again?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Are there any *decent* Counts?

How do you get a dish of ice cream to be shaped like that, anyway? Does Mr. Peach there *lick* it into a perfect cone like that? Ew.

Childs has been absent for a while, so you just knew another celebrity endorsement was coming. "Nyuuuuuuya! Nyuuuuuuya! Nyuuuuuuuya!"

"She is a very observant child. I must take care she does not discover the micro-film I have sewn into the linings."

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES

Handy Harry does get around.

Hey, Tula doesn't have much going on right now...

"No way, toots" thinks Raven. "You're all mine!"

In 1940, "first responders" get no respect.

Yeah, that'll work.

 

[Fading Fast]

T...A fake fakir blew powdered incense into the face of a Queens housewife, and took advantage of her confusion to steal $15 from her apron pocket. Alizee Sadou, alias Professor Deli Sultan, claimed to be demonstrating the incense when he called at the door of Mrs. Eloyse Kitt in Rockaway on July 10th, and claimed he only took the $15 in payment for that incense. The 44-year-old Sadou has been arrested five times on similar charges, and served a two-month jail term in Baltimore in 1932....

In this case, real life is just trying to catch up with the current "Dick Tracy" storyline.

...Now at the REFRESHINGLY COOL Patio, it's Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor in "Waterloo Bridge," paired with "Dr Cyclops" -- in Technicolor!...

If Sally and Joe haven't seen it yet - I believe it's played in at least one other Brooklyn theater already - they need to check out "Waterloo Bridge."

...Miss Leigh, named as co-respondent in the divorce trial of Jill Esmond and Lawrence Olivier, will be free to the marry the latter six months from August 19th, with a final divorce decree in the case expected to be issued on that date....

Mr. Olivier will get his divorce and he will marry Miss Leigh in August of 1940 in a marriage that will last twenty-one years ending in divorce only when Mr. Olivier, in 1961, decides he wants to marry actress Joan Plowright, twenty-two years his junior, and who (checks notes) played his daughter in the 1960 movie "The Entertainer" (excellent movie, well worth seeing).

...
("I got the idea from this guy in Scarsdale!")...

And wonderful illustration.

... View attachment 251958

...(THEY DIDN'T CALL HIM "FAT!")

...with Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons getting knocked out of the box ...

...There are rumors that the Dodgers will soon hold a "Fred Fitzsimmons Day," and if ever there was a Dodger...

Their editorial decision on Freddie is all over the map today.

... (Baseball and a Murder-For-Hire plot? That's a promising start.)...

Agreed, promising start and some good illustrating too. A bit odd that he doesn't try to hide his super powers and that he doesn't seem to have an alter ego either.

... (How does a political operator hire a detachment of storm troopers, anyway? Are they listed in the Yellow Pages?)...

Kudos Lizzie, spot on again.

...
Are there any *decent* Counts?...

Inbreeding and unearned, multigenerational wealth seem to reduce the odds.

....
How do you get a dish of ice cream to be shaped like that, anyway? Does Mr. Peach there *lick* it into a perfect cone like that? Ew.....

All fair points that I'd be happy to discuss with you in detail over a dish of peach ice-cream at H&H today.

...[ Childs has been absent for a while, so you just knew another celebrity endorsement was coming. "Nyuuuuuuya! Nyuuuuuuya! Nyuuuuuuuya!"....

What a freakin' mess of an ad. I am, though, intrigued by the lemon-marshmallow layer cake, but would hate it to be a bust when I could have had the tapioca pudding.

... "She is a very observant child. I must take care she does not discover the micro-film I have sewn into the linings."....

Show up on time, do your job (simply do it) with some thought and a good attitude - nothing more - and you will move up several levels in few years from most entry level jobs at most mid- and large-sized companies. Annie will go much further, but early advancement is not based on having incredible skills but, instead, on showing an absence of negative behaviors and attitude.

... Hey, Tula doesn't have much going on right now.......

It makes no sense for a company to hire a replacement for a vacationing employee when solving this problem is exactly what temp agencies do. Call them up, they send over a few candidates willing to work for a week or two, you'll not be impressed with any of them, but pick one anyway, and presto, problem over.

Maybe Miss full-figure from "Sparky Watts" the other day would like a job?

... Yeah, that'll work.

Somebody, I'm not saying who Mr. Ed, ran out of energy illustrating the NYC skyline. Good start, but you have to finish the job.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The House Military Affairs Committee today voted 11 to 10 against hearing further witnesses on the conscription bill, following acrimonious debate over whether testimony should be heard from General John J. Pershing, General Hugh A. Drum, commander of the First Army, former Secretary of War Harry Woodring, former Assistant Secretary of War Louis Johnson, and General Hugh S. Johnson. Democratic representative Charles I. Paddis of Pennsylvania denounced those favoring further testimony as "fifth columnists," which brought a sharp retort from Republican representative Dewey Short of Missouri, who replied "our patriotism is as good as yours!"

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Cordell Hull called on all Americans to prepare to make "real sacrifices" of both time and substance, and for "hard personal service" in order to create "an unbreakable resistance to forces of aggression." His statement was issued today by the State Department without further explanation.

Floyd Bennett Field, now city-owned, may be sold to the US Navy for use as a first-class air training center. The airport is presently valued at $15,000,000. Admiral Clark H. Woodward, commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, says that opening discussions on the possible sale have been held with Mayor LaGuardia, but is unwilling to elaborate on how far, or if, negotiations have proceeded.

A possible bomb discovered in Pennsylvania Station has been revealed instead as a clock. A ticking valise was found last night under a bench in the men's waiting room, and was turned over to police, who immersed the bag in a drum full of oil for twelve hours before slitting it open to reveal old clothes, knives and forks, and an alarm clock. Employment papers found in the bag revealed that it was the property of Theodore Peterson, 104 E. 123rd Street, who is a chef by trade.

Brooklyn's 106th Infantry Regiment, New York National Guard is participating in maneuvers this week in upstate Ogdensburg with weapons made out of gas pipe. Fifty-five of the seventy-nine "big guns" being taken into the field by the 1200 men of the 106th are dummies made of painted pipe because there aren't enough real weapons to go around. Each man was issued an M1903 Springfield rifle, and the unit has 24 light machine guns to go along with the dummy artillery, which is neatly stenciled with the specifications of the weapons it is intended to represent.

A 47 year old Manhattan manufacturer of musical automobile horns was fined $3 in Brooklyn Traffic Court for playing "God Bless America" on his car horn. Magistrate Charles Solomon imposed the fine after horn man Harry Rubin admitted to blasting the tune from his car on Coney Island Avenue on July 26th to the annoyance of bystanders. "A horn is a warning," declared the magistrate, "not a substitute for a symphony."

("Hey!" says Joe. "Less go! It's jus' like home!" "Yeah," says Sally, "they say so. But you try an' put your feet in th' oven an' see what happens.")

Adolf Hitler's personal commercial envoy to American business may be returning to Germany soon. Dr. Gerhardt Alois Westrick will vacate the estate in Scarsdale where he's been conducting negotiations with representatives of American firms, after public attention was drawn to his activities, with the official expected to be moved out by the end of the week. Dr. Westrick recently visited Washington, for purposes which have not been disclosed.

A fifty-year-old clubwoman from Cedarhurst was killed yesterday when she fell in front of an oncoming Long Island Rail Road train. Police say Mrs. Henrietta Brunswick "squeezed thru" the barrier at the Linwood Avenue crossing, and was "standing alongside the track" when she fell into the train's path. Investigators declined to call the death a suicide, stating simply that "Mrs. Brunswick fell onto the track." She had celebrated her 32nd wedding anniversary last week, and was active in many local organizations including the Parent Teacher Association of PS 5 in Cedarhurst and the Far Rockaway Chapter of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

The leader of the house orchestra at the St. George Hotel says jitterbugs tend to frighten "more sedate dancers" off the floor. Eli Dantzig, who's led the band at the St. George for twenty years, says older couples stay away when they know there will be a lot of kids in the house, because they're afraid of "getting kicked in the shins. Most hotels would rather have 125 conservative dancers than 750 jitterbugs." He notes that the athletic steps favored by young dancers tend to cause damage to the floor, and that management has to "chase them all over the place to collect the cover charge."

Film comedian Lionel Stander and director Herbert Biberman today denounced Los Angeles County District Attorney Buron Fitts for his claim that "Hollywood personalities" are involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the Government and kill Henry Ford. The two were among several film figures to be subpoenaed by Fitts, and Stander sneered at the summons, delcaring he'll gladly go see Fitts any time. Stander pointed out that the FBI has refused to have anything to do with "Fitts' latest attempts to smear Hollywood luminaries with a red brush to further his own political ambitions." Biberman suggested that the subpoena was retribution for his having denounced Fitts before a crowd of 50,000 persons on the steps of City Hall during the DA's reelection campaign. Also summoned were Biberman's wife, actress Gail Sondergaard, writer Samuel Ornitz and his wife, and playwright Clifford Odets.

The mayor of Montreal, Quebec has been placed in a Canadian internment camp for the duration of the war for his outspoken opposition to conscription. Mayor Camillian Houde was arrested by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police under direct orders of the Dominion Government and questioned for forty minutes before being taken to the camp. Houde is the leader of a large faction of French-Canadians who oppose the Canadian war effort.

The Eagle Editorialist endorses the President's call for cooperation between Congress and state legislatures in preparing a nationwide counterespionage program -- but he also warns against vigilante crusades by private citizens. "There is always the danger that hysteria, busybodyism or malice and stupidity gain control."

("I know, let's shove his face in the cake!")

(If they had Tommy John surgery in 1940, Van Mungo would be in the Hall of Fame. But they didn't. And he isn't.)

Whit Wyatt is the best pitcher in the National League right now, or at least that's what Tommy Holmes says after last night's 6-0 shutout win over the Giants. The wasp-waisted righthander had complete command of the game from start to finish, scattering six meaningless hits, with only one baserunner ever making it to third base, as the Dodgers roughed up Harry Gumbert and Paul Dean. Dixie Walker went 4-for-5 with a double and a string of singles to lead the Brooklyn offense. The win was Wyatt's tenth on the season against nine losses, but the won-lost record doesn't tell the full story of his performance on the season so far. More significant is his league-leading total of 94 strikeouts, and last night's win marked his sixth shutout of the season.

Among the 31,796 fans spinning the turnstiles at Ebbets Field last night were a great many who brought along portable radios to follow along with Red Barber's broadcast. Those radios had to be checked at the gate, however, because the sound they make gets picked up by Barber's microphone and causes interference. Fans are asked in the future to leave the radios at home.

The Cincinnati Reds have announced that they will retire uniform number 5 in memory of the late Willard Hershberger. Reds general manager Warren Giles said the gesture is "the least we could do," while admitting that he is still in a state of shock over Hershberger's suicide. He also acknowledged that ballplayers' superstitions make retiring the number necessary, probably on a permanent basis.

Brooklyn attorney Sol Douglas won the $50 prize in the final installment of the Eagle's Dodger contest. Douglas picked the Cubs to win the first game of last Sunday's doubleheader, and got the score of 11 to 3 exactly right. Douglas expressed some regret, noting that if he'd realized Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons was going to pitch that day he never would have jinxed him by picking the Dodgers to lose. Douglas, who says that he's been a Dodger rooter since the old days at Washington Park, insists that Fitzsimmons is his favorite player.

("When he learns to control them better." Yeah, right, kid, keep dreaming.)

(Jo's face in panel three really does say it all.)

("Yeah, I know, but all the other shirt colors were taken.")

(Whoa, an overseas adventure! Dan Dunn vs. Hitler? Irwin lost in the Blitz? Naw, the chief misplaced a trunk that time he went to Europe and he wants you to find it.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Mr. Stanford should be shot, and given the opportunity I would gladly do it myself without the slightest misgiving.

WHIMSICAL CARTOON CHEF IS BACK!

And now we know what happened to the guy who *used to* write the Childs ads.

"Sure it's hard work! But it sure beats sitting around the house listening to John Tecum whine!"

Jeez, Bim, didn't you ever hear of a trust fund?

"Um, this wasn't part of the deal!"

DON'T HURT THE DOG

Frank King gets even with all his wife's annoying friends.

Because tough old NYPD detectives just loooooooove sodas.

Willie's such an old romantic.

 

[Fading Fast]

..
("Hey!" says Joe. "Less go! It's jus' like home!" "Yeah," says Sally, "they say so. But you try an' put your feet in th' oven an' see what happens.")...

Pricier than Childs, but a better ad (not hard to do). And since there appears to be only one, no air-conditioning Russian Roulette as at Childs.

... The wasp-waisted righthander had complete command of the game...

After standing and flinging a crumpled copy of the Eagle across the locker room, a red-faced Freddie Fitzsimmons could be heard muttering "wasp-waisted" my *ss, freakin' Eagle" as he kicked a garbage pail on the way out.

...Douglas expressed some regret, noting that if he'd realized Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons was going to pitch that day he never would have jinxed him by picking the Dodgers to lose. Douglas, who says that he's been a Dodger rooter since the old days at Washington Park, insists that Fitzsimmons is his favorite player....

Note: Mr. Fitzsimmons, thankfully, never even got to this part of the sports section before storming out.

...
("When he learns to control them better." Yeah, right, kid, keep dreaming.)...

It sounds like the girlfriend's name is Hedy and "honey" is just a term of endearment, but "Hedy Honey" is also a perfect '40's girlfriend name in comic-strip land.

... Mr. Stanford should be shot, and given the opportunity I would gladly do it myself without the slightest misgiving.....

I'm fully onboard with your decision Lizzie.

Separately, I'm thinking there's a good college term paper, maybe even a doctoral thesis (but perhaps they were more discerning in topic choice back then) studying which group of people - Hollywood stars, trust-fund babies/society types or ex-pat European royalty - have more divorces and why. I'm leaning to expanding our current ban on marriages for trust-fund kids/society types to include all three groups.

...
WHIMSICAL CARTOON CHEF IS BACK!....

If the owner's son (or nephew or cousin) isn't running marketing at Childs, nothing makes sense in the world.

Also, I saw a Childs restaurant in the background in the movie "I Wake up Screaming" during a Manhattan-location shot the other day. That's it, that's my Childs story.

... And now we know what happened to the guy who *used to* write the Childs ads.....

(sniffing) "Sounds garish and touristy," then (in sotto voce), "but we should check it out just to see it, you know, as a goof."

Exactly how do the "beautiful girls" fit into the story he's telling? Is he saying the waitresses are beautiful or the murals are of beautiful girls? The phrase just seems dropped in there.

...
Frank King gets even with all his wife's annoying friends.....

One, hire the efficiency woman (although, Ms. Snipe won't have a job to come back to) and, two, this is insane - nobody goes through all this effort to hire a one-or-two-week temp. He doesn't seem like the type, but maybe bossman there is trying to tee-up a MeToo moment - horrible as that is, at least it would explain all the effort.

... Because tough old NYPD detectives just loooooooove sodas.....

Agreed. I believe NYPD detective like their sodas the same way Greta Garbo does:


Also, just a note, but one could read a subtext into today's strip starting with Shadow's dialogue in panel 2.

 

[LizzieMaine]

All those people who complain today about how Times Square has been overrun by banal chain restaurants clearly weren't around in 1940. I will, however, give Your Host D. L. Toffenetti credit for going full force with the concept. I bet Howard Johnson is looking at today's paper in a fulminating rage.

Also, sport shirt-and-slacks guy crossing the street there just came from checking out the Moon Mullins Collection at Davega.

Note the cop's hand resting gently upon Shadow's shoulder in panel five. Welcome to the Village, kid.

Must be a pretty chunky wasp.

 

[Fading Fast]

All those people who complain today about how Times Square has been overrun by banal chain restaurants clearly weren't around in 1940. I will, however, give Your Host D. L. Toffenetti credit for going full force with the concept. I bet Howard Johnson is looking at today's paper in a fulminating rage.

Also, sport shirt-and-slacks guy crossing the street there just came from checking out the Moon Mullins Collection at Davega.....

Good call on HoJo's and on Davega dude.

Also, all our mid-century-modern fans should be loving Toffenetti's early example.

...Note the cop's hand resting gently upon Shadow's shoulder in panel five. Welcome to the Village, kid.....

Exactly, it wasn't very subtle.

... View attachment 252177
Must be a pretty chunky wasp.

Hence, FFF rage - this guy has a legitimate grudge.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The House Military Affairs Committee reversed its decision to end testimony on the conscription bill, and will hear from General John J. Pershing, former Secretary of War Henry Woodring, Navy Secretary Frank Knox, former Assistant Secretary of War Louis Johnson, and Brig. Gen. Hugh S. Johnson before closing its hearings. General Pershing supports the proposed bill to draft men between the ages of 21 and 31 for military service, while Woodring opposes the measure. Their testimony, and that of the other invited witnesses will take place next Tuesday.

The Senate Military Affairs Committee has issued a majority report urging approval of the conscription bill as a necessary component of the general rearmament program. "Weapons without men," stated that report, "are as futile as men without weapons."

The commandant of the Third Naval District stated today that the United States is "too weak" to prevail in a major war. Speaking at the World's Fair in ceremonies marking the 151st anniversary of the founding of the Army and Navy, Rear Admiral Clark H. Woodward declared that "the machinations of misguided if not vicious pacifists" and "public indifference" are responsible for interfering with "the proper development of the Army and Navy," and he condemned what he called "the annual smothering snowfall of anti-preparedness propaganda in Congress and to some extent in our churches and our press."

Police are trying to identify a woman who leaped to her death from the 22nd floor of the St. George Hotel just before 6 this morning, after smoking an entire pack of cigarettes. The woman had registered under the name of "Miss R. Best" of Long Beach, but investigators have determined that the name was fictitious. The woman was fully dressed at the time of her fatal plunge, and left nothing behind in her room but an ashtray heaped with cigarette butts. Her purse contained a set of keys and fourteen cents, but no other identification. The night clerk at the hotel stated that the woman registered shortly after midnight, after pacing the lobby for about an hour and a half, and said that she had told him that she was waiting for someone who didn't show up. The woman was approximately forty years old, five feet two inches in height, and weighed 120 pounds. She landed on a brick roof on a fifth-floor hotel extension, and was pronounced dead at the scene by an ambulance attendant from Cumberland Hospital.

("Whatta you doin'?" inquires Sally, as Joe gazes intently into the bathroom mirror with his mouth wide open. "Countin' my teeth," says Joe.)

The widows of the two police detectives killed in the July 4th bombing at the World's Fair will receive payments of $3200 each under an award approved today by the Board of Estimate. The payments are equivalent to a year's salary for each of the two detectives, and will be made in addition to the police pensions due to the widows. The Board also approved the purchase of a new limousine for Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer, alloting a sum not to exceed $2400 to supplement the trade-in value of the current 1937-model car.

(If Al Jolson and Fannie Brice happen to see today's Eagle, they'll be awful sore.)

Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss and Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein face new Murder-For-Hire indictments, appearing in court today to be arraigned for the 1935 slaying of reputed Manhattan mobster Abraham Meers, who was "taken for a ride" and disposed of by shotgun blasts to the back as he walked away from the car. Strauss's resplendent patriarchal beard drew criticism from Judge Edwin L. Garvin in Kings County Court, but Assistant District Attorney Burton Turkus hastened to explain that efforts are under way to do something about the whiskers. Strauss declined to state a plea, but Goldstein murmured a feeble "not guilty" to the charges.

The unemployed chef whose shabby valise triggered a bomb scare at Pennsylvania Station this week was turned away by the Police Department's Bomb Squad when he asked them to replace the bag, which was soaked in oil and then slashed open by detectives due to the ticking alarm clock inside. Theodore Petersen told police he had accidentally left the bag behind in the station while out hunting for a job, and was upset to find that it was missing when he came back to look for it. "Nothing doing," was the reply when Petersen suggested the Department might get him a new bag.

("Can This Marriage Be Saved?")

Mel Ott began his major league career as a sixteen year old boy at the knee of the great John McGraw, and now, fourteen years later, he finally get his just recognition, with "Mel Ott Night" to be celebrated this evening at the Polo Grounds as a preliminary to the Dodger-Giant game. Tonight marks the first time the two ancient rivals have clashed beneath the lights, and the Giants anticipate a new attendance record will be set, with as many Dodger fans as Giant fans expected to storm the gates. Vito Tamulis is expected to start for Brooklyn against Carl Hubbell for New York.

Joe Medwick and Cookie Lavagetto are expected to return to the lineup tonight as Leo Durocher again juggles his batting order. The two have been riding the bench for the past two games, a move Lippy felt necessary to jolt them out of their slumps. It is generally accepted that Medwick's woes stem from the lingering effects of his beaning in June by Bob Bowman of the Cardinals, but Lavagetto's case seems to be the result of simple exhaustion, and Durocher hopes two days of rest will be sufficient to get the long-limbed Italian back to his usual self.

Pete Coscarart, on the other hand, will remain benched tonight, with Johnny Hudson heading out to second place in his place. Hudson has been playing well, and Leo sees no reason to make any changes at this time, suggesting that Coscarart simply doesn't have the stamina at his young age to be a full-season regular.

("Musta not had his Wheaties," snickers Joe. "WHAT?" snaps Sally. "Nuthin'," says Joe. "Hey, you see this new comic, Sparky Watts? Funny stuff, innit?")

Leo Durocher, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, will be honored in Boston this weekend when the Dodgers travel to the land of the cod and the bean to take on the Bees. The New Haven Railroad will again offer a "Dodger Fans Special" train for Sunday's doubleheader, with tickets now on sale at Grand Central Terminal.

If you wear a size-40 girdle, there's a pretty good chance it was actually designed to fit the specific measurements of Miss Ethel Smith of Flatbush, one of the nation's leading corset models. Miss Smith works for all the leading corset manufacturers, and cheerfully goes wherever her duty calls. She works an average of seven days a week, and recently starred in a Technicolor motion picture short made by the Bali Brassiere company. Miss Smith is five feet eight inches tall, and weighs in at 192 pounds -- but she is not fat. She enjoys bicycling and swimming to maintain her weight without much variation. "If I reduced," she laughs, "I'd lose my job."

(Super strength, super speed -- and super manipulativeness! That's quite a skill set.)

("A tarantula in the garden of love." I dunno, he looks more like a stinkbug to me.)

(Suddenly, the Quaker Oats guy stepped from the shadows. What could possibly be his connection to the case?)

(And so began the militarization of the police...)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Yeah, but what happened to the fish?

That means there's nine Dodgers and thirteen Giants who think that Wheaties taste like baked cardboard. THEIR NAMES, PLEASE.

And what else will Annie find under the porch?

I'm a sucker for a good love story.

The butler's probably in on it too.

Hahhahahahahahahaha!

Somebody's gonna be in trouble here, and I'm not sure yet who.

Poor Willie, gets no respect from nobody.

Maybe you should be asking for the "Hobo News."

 

[Fading Fast]

..
(If Al Jolson and Fannie Brice happen to see today's Eagle, they'll be awful sore.)...

Also, note how hard the ad works to make the venue and event sound glamorous, special, elegant and upscaled. That's why you have to squint to see that it is in (sniff) New Jersey as it really sounds as if it's "Just Across the George Washington Bridge" (which, "unfortunately," just happens to be where NJ is).

As a born and bred Jersey boy, I fully admit the entire state has NYC envy, it just does and ads like this only further fuel the fire.

...The unemployed chef whose shabby valise triggered a bomb scare at Pennsylvania Station this week was turned away by the Police Department's Bomb Squad when he asked them to replace the bag, which was soaked in oil and then slashed open by detectives due to the ticking alarm clock inside. Theodore Petersen told police he had accidentally left the bag behind in the station while out hunting for a job, and was upset to find that it was missing when he came back to look for it. "Nothing doing," was the reply when Petersen suggested the Department might get him a new bag....

If there will be any buying of bags by the police, without a doubt, the first one will go to Tracy's chief.

...
Leo Durocher, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, will be honored in Boston this weekend when the Dodgers travel to the land of the cod and the bean to take on the Bees. The New Haven Railroad will again offer a "Dodger Fans Special" train for Sunday's doubleheader, with tickets now on sale at Grand Central Terminal....

Joe and Sally, with bitter memories of their last trip to Boston for a doubleheader, just shake their heads in disgust.

...If you wear a size-40 girdle, there's a pretty good chance it was actually designed to fit the specific measurements of Miss Ethel Smith of Flatbush, one of the nation's leading corset models. Miss Smith works for all the leading corset manufacturers, and cheerfully goes wherever her duty calls. She works an average of seven days a week, and recently starred in a Technicolor motion picture short made by the Bali Brassiere company. Miss Smith is five feet eight inches tall, and weighs in at 192 pounds -- but she is not fat. She enjoys bicycling and swimming to maintain her weight without much variation. "If I reduced," she laughs, "I'd lose my job."...)

In the early '90s, I dated a model (not a supermodel, there are a lot of regular work-a-day models in NYC) who was one of the "size 8" fit model for, at the time, Kmart and a few other brands. This meant, that for certain lines of clothing at those stores, if you bought a size 8, the pattern was modeled on her exact proportions. She was also showcased in a lot of the Kmart circulars used in those pre-internet days.

... (Super strength, super speed -- and super manipulativeness! That's quite a skill set.)...

But do bullets bounce off him? Hard to see how his cosmic-ray diet makes his skin bullet proof. Just sayin', as those were guns I saw.

..
("A tarantula in the garden of love." I dunno, he looks more like a stinkbug to me.)...

That is an awful metaphor, just awful, but I think the upshot is he bow-chicka-bow-wow'd with her. Estelle is not going to be happy about that - the amnesia excuse only goes so far.

Also, "You have always the 'hunted look' like so many married men." Okay now.

... (Suddenly, the Quaker Oats guy stepped from the shadows. What could possibly be his connection to the case?)...

Mary would absolute know who the Purple Shirts are - she's way too smart and informed not to.

... Yeah, but what happened to the fish?...

Also, they married "brothers, both named Malcolm Murchison...." Wait, what?

You knew reading all along that the answer to "what the heck is this really all about" was going to be sex.

... And what else will Annie find under the porch?...

What are the odds that Annie and her new "brother" would have the same head of massively curly hair?

...
I'm a sucker for a good love story...

Panel three - Raven, again, looks super-spy awesome. Panel four - it should take him several hours to pick himself up off the floor from that dressing down. She deboned him like a small chicken.

...
Hahhahahahahahahaha!...

Freakin' perfect.

... Somebody's gonna be in trouble here, and I'm not sure yet who....

I did mention MeToo yesterday. I know they can't really go there, but these writers are good at getting the real story out in subtext. We'll see.

... Maybe you should be asking for the "Hobo News."

No kidding, back in the pre-internet days, you probably could have bought the Covina newspaper in NYC as the large stands seemed to carry every periodical imaginable. There were papers from countries I had never heard of.

 

[Fading Fast]

 

[LizzieMaine]

James A. Farley has resigned from his Cabinet seat as Postmaster General effective at the end of this month. President Roosevelt yesterday accepted the resignation "with sincere sorrow," following receipt of Farley's letter at Hyde Park, but gave no indication of whom he will appoint as his replacement. Mr. Farley had already announced his resignation as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, in which post he will be succeeded by Edward J. Flynn of New York on August 17th. Mr. Farley will become president of the board of the New York Yankees baseball club, and in his letter assured President Roosevelt that he has made arrangements for his future in private business in which he "shall be happy."

There was no indication in Mr. Farley's letter as to other reasons for the resignation from the Cabinet, although it is rumored that tensions had been created between the two longtime political allies by Mr. Roosevelt's decision to accept the nomination for a third term in the White House. It is generally accepted that Mr. Farley's efforts on behalf of the Roosevelt candidacy in 1932 and 1936 had much to do with their success, and Mr. Farley has been a staunch backer of the Administration's New Deal program.

At least nine Nazi planes were shot down today over Britain -- six dive bombers and three fighters -- as a huge air battle raged over the southeastern coast of England. Officials stated that only twelve British planes faced down a German attack consisting of at least fifty bombers accompanied by fighter escorts. Two British pilots are reported missing in the raid.

A major Brooklyn manufacturing firm will remain here despite efforts by other communities to entice it away thru tax incentives. The Cordiano Can Company will not only remain in Brooklyn but will expand its Williamsburg factory at 20-30 Grand Avenue. Company President Dominic Cordiano stated that he made the decision not to leave the borough because Brooklyn "offers advantages for industrial expansion superior to other sections of the East."

Police investigating injuries received by an air hostess from Flushing aboard an American Airlines flight to Nashville, Tennessee have concluded that 24 year old Rosemary Griffith was rendered unconscious by accident rather than by foul play. The hostess was discovered unconscious when the plane landed at Nashville Airport, and when x-rayed was found to have swallowed the key to the plane's baggage compartment, and to have suffered bruises to her head and body. Authorities speculate she was jostled when the plane hit turbulence during its flight, and struck her head when she fell.

A rush order to begin construction of a six-foot-high chain link fence along the BMT right of way along the Brighton subway line in Flatbush has been issued by the Board of Transportation, a move which should soon put an end to the third-rail menace in the neighborhood. Pressure to build such a barrier increased following the death last month of five-year-old Richard Allison, who had fallen onto the tracks while chasing a ball and was electrocuted.

The Brooklyn Dodgers should be owned by the citizens of Brooklyn. So argues Eric H. Palmer Sr. of 305 Avenue C, prominent borough inventor and avid Dodger rooter. In a wire to George V. McLaughlin, president of the Brooklyn Trust Company, Palmer calls for the sale of the fifty-percent-interest in the team controlled by the bank to be assumed by the public thru a sale of stock, declaring that a "campaign among fans would raise enough to make the team community-owned." Brooklyn Trust administers fifty percent of the stock of the Brooklyn National League Baseball Club Inc. and the Ebbets-McKeever Exhibition Company on behalf of the heirs of Charles H. Ebbets, who died in 1925. The remaining shares are divided among the heirs of Ebbets' late partners Edward and Stephen McKeever and are not controlled by the bank. Mr. Palmer's suggestion was spurred by a current rumor that the Ebbets shares are to be sold to fight promoter Mike Jacobs. Commenting on those rumors, Mrs. James M. Mulvey, daughter of Stephen McKeever and owner of twenty-five percent of the Dodger stock, expressed no interest in selling her shares to anyone. "I've stuck by the Dodgers thru thick and thin," she declared, "and why should I sell now when they're getting good?" According to the rumor, Jacobs wants 100 percent of the club or none of it. No definite price has been mentioned in the rumor, but value of the franchise was last estimated in the range of $2,500,000, but there are suggestions that the current uncertainties triggered by the war might cut that value by as much as half a million. It is reported that all Dodger stockholders will gather tomorrow to discuss the rumored Jacobs proposition.

(Especially when you use those checks to buy Dodger stock.)

(On the other hand, he could walk thru McCarren Park in 2020 and nobody would give him a second look.)

If it's August, that means it's time for Hay Fever -- and that brings the First Annual Convention of the Hay Fever Sufferers of America to the St. George Hotel. In his keynote speech to the assembled snifflers, organization president Michael Dorfman of 1763 60th Street called for the formation of militant "ragweed detective squads" to track down and destroy "the enemy." Dorfman declared to applause from his followers that "nothing will be done about it unless we do it ourselves!" The convention also took a firm stand against the use of the word "gesundheit" as a post-sneeze blessing, declaring that "God Bless America" should be adopted as a patriotic substitute.

Bette Davis and Charles Boyer shine in "All This And Heaven Too," now playing at the Brooklyn Paramount. Herbert Cohn says the film's producers have lost nothing by cutting off the final third of Rachel Field's novel, but even in that form the script is still too long and ponderous to be really effective. It's the performances by Davis and Boyer that really sell the picture.

(Twenty years ago, Wallace Ford was kicking off a stage career that would make him a major Broadway headliner for most of that glittering decade. Now he's seventh billed in a Judy Canova picture. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.)

The entire World's Fair midway transplanted to Luna Park next year? That's what Billy Rose wants to do, according to Clifford Evans. Rose's plans call even for the relocation of the Aquacade to Coney Island.

(The Lichtys' seaside vacation didn't go well.)

The Dodgers are now just five games out of first place after topping the Giants 8-4 at the Polo Grounds last night, and they're talking pennant again. The win was the Flock's third straight, and puts them right back where they were when they began their recent unfortunate homestand, making up for their three-game drubbing by the Reds. All they've lost is time, and by knocking down the Giants last night they have quelled, at least for the moment, the Terrymen's quest to shove them out of second place. Joe Medwick and Cookie Lavagetto returned to the lineup with a vengeance last night, with both making key hits, and even Pete Coscarart got back into the act, pinch hitting for Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons in the seventh and lashing a sharp single to left field -- the hit that started a five run rally that chased Carl Hubbell, and gave the Dodgers the margin of victory.

Curt Davis will start against Bill Lohrman at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as the Dodgers and Giants close out their two-game set. Tomorrow morning, the Flock will board a plane to Boston to open a weekend series against the Bees. The Dodger flight is scheduled to leave Floyd Bennett Field at 10 AM.

August 16th will be celebrated in Brooklyn as "Fred Fitzsimmons Night," with Fat Freddie to be feted at Ebbets Field before the final night game of the season. Mayor LaGuardia and Borough President John Cashmore will be on hand to pay tribute to the perennial youngster who, in his 39th year, is having a brilliant season for the Dodgers. A "Fitzsimmons Night Fan Committee" has been formed to raise a substantial purse to purchase an appropriate gift to mark the occasion. Dodger president Larry MacPhail says the team itself will make a "substantial donation" to kick off the fundraising effort.

The Bay Parkways, fresh from sweeping a doubleheader from the bearded boys from the House of David, will take on the New York Black Yankees at Erasmus Field tonight. The Black Yanks dealt harshly with the Parkways when last they met. The Black Yanks will move on tomorrow night to face the Bushwicks at Dexter Park, in the first meeting between the two clubs this season. Last night, the St. Louis Stars, contenders for the Negro American League pennant, fell to the Bushwicks 10-1.

(-2 for the racist stereotype, +1 for the general insanity.)

(Isn't anybody going to notice that "Fanetta" looks very much like Peggy Bungle in a dime-store wig? That could add a whole new layer to the proceedings...)

("That's ridiculous! I don't even OWN a purple shirt!")

(YAAAAAAA! Who needs machine guns when you've got the FACE EATING DOG!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Just another day in 1940.

Guess there's no Childs in Philadelphia.

Ahead of their time.

Sorry kid, you won't get much meat for a dime in 1940, but you could get four pounds of apples, and then sell them off a cart for a nickel each. Ask Mary Worth about how that works. She might even let you use her old cart.

Don't worry, you're practically invisible.

That isn't even a real dog.

Seriously, though, the Preence must be the least-observant man on Earth not to figure out what's happening here.

SNIPE DOES NOT APPROVE

And be careful. Remember, that's the only pair of pants he owns.

And when Shadow woke up, his wallet, hat, and shoes were all missing, and he'd somehow ended up in Rahway, New Jersey.

 

[Fading Fast]

James A. Farley has resigned from his Cabinet seat as Postmaster General effective at the end of this month. President Roosevelt yesterday accepted the resignation "with sincere sorrow," following receipt of Farley's letter at Hyde Park, but gave no indication of whom he will appoint as his replacement. Mr. Farley had already announced his resignation as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, in which post he will be succeeded by Edward J. Flynn of New York on August 17th. Mr. Farley will become president of the board of the New York Yankees baseball club, and in his letter assured President Roosevelt that he has made arrangements for his future in private business in which he "shall be happy."

There was no indication in Mr. Farley's letter as to other reasons for the resignation from the Cabinet, although it is rumored that tensions had been created between the two longtime political allies by Mr. Roosevelt's decision to accept the nomination for a third term in the White House. It is generally accepted that Mr. Farley's efforts on behalf of the Roosevelt candidacy in 1932 and 1936 had much to do with their success, and Mr. Farley has been a staunch backer of the Administration's New Deal program....

Run the Post Office or run the board of the New York Yankees? "I'll take the Yankee's job." "Sir, you can take your time making your decision." "Yankees!" "There's no need to rush sir." "THE YANKEES!" "Again, we want you to be comfor" (cutting him off) "Where do I sign, now, right now!"

....Police investigating injuries received by an air hostess from Flushing aboard an American Airlines flight to Nashville, Tennessee have concluded that 24 year old Rosemary Griffith was rendered unconscious by accident rather than by foul play. The hostess was discovered unconscious when the plane landed at Nashville Airport, and when x-rayed was found to have swallowed the key to the plane's baggage compartment, and to have suffered bruises to her head and body. Authorities speculate she was jostled when the plane hit turbulence during its flight, and struck her head when she fell....

And that explains how she swallowed the key how? Sure, if she was disgustingly holding it in her mouth when she got jostled, but really?

....The Brooklyn Dodgers should be owned by the citizens of Brooklyn. So argues Eric H. Palmer Sr. of 305 Avenue C, prominent borough inventor and avid Dodger rooter. In a wire to George V. McLaughlin, president of the Brooklyn Trust Company, Palmer calls for the sale of the fifty-percent-interest in the team controlled by the bank to be assumed by the public thru a sale of stock, declaring that a "campaign among fans would raise enough to make the team community-owned." Brooklyn Trust administers fifty percent of the stock of the Brooklyn National League Baseball Club Inc. and the Ebbets-McKeever Exhibition Company on behalf of the heirs of Charles H. Ebbets, who died in 1925. The remaining shares are divided among the heirs of Ebbets' late partners Edward and Stephen McKeever and are not controlled by the bank. Mr. Palmer's suggestion was spurred by a current rumor that the Ebbets shares are to be sold to fight promoter Mike Jacobs. Commenting on those rumors, Mrs. James M. Mulvey, daughter of Stephen McKeever and owner of twenty-five percent of the Dodger stock, expressed no interest in selling her shares to anyone. "I've stuck by the Dodgers thru thick and thin," she declared, "and why should I sell now when they're getting good?" According to the rumor, Jacobs wants 100 percent of the club or none of it. No definite price has been mentioned in the rumor, but value of the franchise was last estimated in the range of $2,500,000, but there are suggestions that the current uncertainties triggered by the war might cut that value by as much as half a million. It is reported that all Dodger stockholders will gather tomorrow to discuss the rumored Jacobs proposition....

That would have changed baseball history.

....
(On the other hand, he could walk thru McCarren Park in 2020 and nobody would give him a second look.)...

I thought he'd have been much older.

...
(Twenty years ago, Wallace Ford was kicking off a stage career that would make him a major Broadway headliner for most of that glittering decade. Now he's seventh billed in a Judy Canova picture. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.)...

But the funny thing is if he didn't do the, at the time, looked-down-upon-by-theater-people movies, his name wouldn't even be known today.

So many famous-in-their-day theater people are unknown to the general public today, but even second- and third-rate movie stars form the '30s and '40s have some following/name-recognition today.

The movies really have given these actors a certain amount of immortality that the "more-prestigious" theater hasn't.

...The Dodgers are now just five games out of first place after topping the Giants 8-4 at the Polo Grounds last night, and they're talking pennant again. The win was the Flock's third straight, and puts them right back where they were when they began their recent unfortunate homestand, making up for their three-game drubbing by the Reds. All they've lost is time, and by knocking down the Giants last night they have quelled, at least for the moment, the Terrymen's quest to shove them out of second place. Joe Medwick and Cookie Lavagetto returned to the lineup with a vengeance last night, with both making key hits, and even Pete Coscarart got back into the act, pinch hitting for Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons in the seventh and lashing a sharp single to left field -- the hit that started a five run rally that chased Carl Hubbell, and gave the Dodgers the margin of victory....

Man would a run from here be exciting.

...August 16th will be celebrated in Brooklyn as "Fred Fitzsimmons Night," with Fat Freddie to be feted at Ebbets Field before the final night game of the season. Mayor LaGuardia and Borough President John Cashmore will be on hand to pay tribute to the perennial youngster who, in his 39th year, is having a brilliant season for the Dodgers. A "Fitzsimmons Night Fan Committee" has been formed to raise a substantial purse to purchase an appropriate gift to mark the occasion. Dodger president Larry MacPhail says the team itself will make a "substantial donation" to kick off the fundraising effort....

Let's just be thankful that the official name wasn't "Fat Fred Fitzsimmons Night."

If they get him a subscription to Weight Watchers (or the 1940 equivalent), any reaction from Freddie will be justified.

... (-2 for the racist stereotype, +1 for the general insanity.)...

Heck, if "Sparky Watts" doesn't take off, this wack-a-doodle doctor could easily find employment as the Bungles' family physician.

... (Isn't anybody going to notice that "Fanetta" looks very much like Peggy Bungle in a dime-store wig? That could add a whole new layer to the proceedings...)...

Good news, not-Tootsie is alive.

... [(YAAAAAAA! Who needs machine guns when you've got the FACE EATING DOG!)

Buh, buh, buh yesterday I was getting four machine guns mounted in each wing, what happened? Now I only get two? Or are those two in addition to my wing-mounted machine guns? Hey, you guys keep telling me how dangerous and vital this mission is.

... Just another day in 1940.....

I guess the key-swallowing detail came out after the News went to press.

Good to see that the jewel-thievery business is still thriving, I was afraid it was going the way of buggy whip makers. You'd hate to see so many hardworking thieves unemployed.

There's more to the missing-heiress story that, hopefully, we'll learn in time.

...
Guess there's no Childs in Philadelphia....

Maybe she was just training to be an American Air Lines stewardess but couldn't find a key to practice with.

...
Sorry kid, you won't get much meat for a dime in 1940, but you could get four pounds of apples, and then sell them off a cart for a nickel each. Ask Mary Worth about how that works. She might even let you use her old cart.....

Despite having made fun of others who did so, if I was living in 1940, I might just send in a classified ad to the News complaining about the change in LOA from sophisticated criminal and espionage storylines with complex characters like Nick and Axel to this sugary pablum (now, where'd I put that book of stamps?).

... SNIPE DOES NOT APPROVE...

The boss showed his hand when he passed on the plain-Jane efficiency woman - that was the no-brainer hire to make from a biz perspective.

... And when Shadow woke up, his wallet, hat, and shoes were all missing, and he'd somehow ended up in Rahway, New Jersey.

Or worse, in the detective's (from the other day) apartment.

 

[LizzieMaine]

George V. McLaughlin -- who used to be the NYC police commissioner in the '20s -- was a pivotal figure in Brooklyn baseball history. It was he who brought in Larry MacPhail to run the team when the front office was completely paralyzed by the fact that Ebbetses and the McKeevers couldn't stand each other, and it was that decision that revitalized the team when it desperately needed to be revitalized. It was also George McLaughlin who brought Walter F. O'Malley into the Dodger orbit -- W. F. O. was a social-climbing lawyer handling foreclosures for Brooklyn Trust, and when McLaughlin wanted a set of eyes and ears to represent the Bank's interests on the team, O'Malley was seen as a safe choice.

And it was also George McLaughlin who saw to it that O'Malley was able to buy into the team in 1943 -- by financing nearly all of W. F. O.'s stock purchase, a move which, of course, sealed the fate of the franchise for all time. And after Walter F. O'Malley -- who owed everything he had and everything he was to George V. McLaughlin -- moved the Dodgers out of Brooklyn, McLaughlin never spoke to him again.

I feel really bad for the people who got off that plane in Nashville and couldn't get their baggage because nobody could find the key.

If Harold had any sense, he'd ask that newsie to describe this person who wanted the Covina paper. And when the newsie said "Ehhhh, he was a sawed-off little guy, couldna been more'n four an' a half feet tall -- an' he was gettin' kinda bald headed besides..," well, now, that would be a valuable clue.

 

[Fading Fast]

George V. McLaughlin -- who used to be the NYC police commissioner in the '20s -- was a pivotal figure in Brooklyn baseball history. It was he who brought in Larry MacPhail to run the team when the front office was completely paralyzed by the fact that Ebbetses and the McKeevers couldn't stand each other, and it was that decision that revitalized the team when it desperately needed to be revitalized. It was also George McLaughlin who brought Walter F. O'Malley into the Dodger orbit -- W. F. O. was a social-climbing lawyer handling foreclosures for Brooklyn Trust, and when McLaughlin wanted a set of eyes and ears to represent the Bank's interests on the team, O'Malley was seen as a safe choice.

And it was also George McLaughlin who saw to it that O'Malley was able to buy into the team in 1943 -- by financing nearly all of W. F. O.'s stock purchase, a move which, of course, sealed the fate of the franchise for all time. And after Walter F. O'Malley -- who owed everything he had and everything he was to George V. McLaughlin -- moved the Dodgers out of Brooklyn, McLaughlin never spoke to him again.

I feel really bad for the people who got off that plane in Nashville and couldn't get their baggage because nobody could find the key.

If Harold had any sense, he'd ask that newsie to describe this person who wanted the Covina paper. And when the newsie said "Ehhhh, he was a sawed-off little guy, couldna been more'n four an' a half feet tall -- an' he was gettin' kinda bald headed besides..," well, now, that would be a valuable clue.

Had the Dodgers stayed in Brooklyn, there would have been many lean years, but the last ten or so would have been fantastic.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's interesting to speculate. Mr. McLaughlin had two lawyers on his staff in the mid-1930s, either of whom he could have assigned to the Dodger situation. One was W. F. O., and the other was William A. Shea -- who would one day lead the fight to bring National League ball back to New York, and for whom a stadium was once named.

If Shea got the job instead of O'Malley, Branch RIckey would never have been pushed out of Brooklyn after the war, and the Dodgers never would have moved. But the Giants would have moved to Minneapolis -- where they were all set to go until W. F. O. convinced Horace Stoneham otherwise. And the Washington Senators would have ended up in Los Angeles, possibly with the Kansas City A's moving to San Francisco. A few years later, the National League would have gotten an LA expansion team -- the Hollywood Stars, let's say -- instead of the Mets, with the other expansion slot going to Oakland -- the "Oaks," let's say. (And the American League would get a new Washington club and one in Houston.)

The Dodgers might have ended up in Flushing, at Shea Stadium -- and with the whole New York National League market to themselves, they'd have managed to get along all right. But around the turn of the millenium they'd have moved into a fine new Brooklyn ballpark on the old Steeplechase Park site at Coney Island. And Mookie Betts would still be playing in the Northeast.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Twelve persons were injured, and thousands were late for work after a Manhattan-bound BMT subway train derailed near the 36th Street station this morning. Service on the West End 4th Avenue, Sea Beach, and Culver lines, all of which use the tracks at that point, was disrupted well into the afternoon as crews strove to repair the damage. Tracks were partially torn up in the accident, which has been determined to have been caused by mechanical trouble in the forward truck of the last coach in the seven-car train, leading to a broken axle which threw the coach from the track and dragged up the rails for ten feet before the motorman could stop the train. The train had only just pulled out of the station and had not picked up speed, and authorities say that fact prevented even worse damage and more injuries.

Death stalked into an attic in Flushing this afternoon when a boy playing cops-and-robbers shot a friend to death with a 30-30 rifle he had found there. 13-year-old Henry Canady of 158-06 Franconia Avenue was shot thru the head by 13-year-old Robert Higgins of 4248 147th Street after the Higgins boy found the rifle in the attic in the home of a third boy, Luther Zaner of 149-14 Beech Avenue. The rifle was said to be unloaded when it was discovered, but the Higgins boy also found a cartridge which he loaded into the gun "for additional realism." The Higgins boy told police his finger accidentally touched the trigger while he was pretending to fire the weapon, discharging the gun and killing Canaday instantly.

The head of the Department of Justice's Anti-Trust Division stated in Manhattan this morning that "Big Business has become so entangled in its own processes that it stands as an economic fifth column." Thurman Arnold is in the city to confer with a special assistant to Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, and observed that there is real concern over the extent of "German patent control in vital war industries." Mr. Arnold added that the natural tendency of Big Business to narrow its field of operations by squeezing out smaller competitors results in a concentration of power and control that could legitimately be called "an economic fifth column."

A baby alligator picked up in Garden City last night after startling motorists along Stewart Avenue has been identified as the escaped pet of a 14-year-old boy. Jack Halperin, a student at St. Paul's School, appeared at the Garden City police station this morning to claim the reptile, telling police that he originally had three alligators. One died, he noted, and two others escaped. "Everybody felt uncomfortable" upon hearing this statement, but the youth reassured police that his alligators don't bite.

Fight promoter Mike Jacobs would barely be able to buy Ebbets Field for the $2,000,000 he is rumored to be offering for the purchase of the entire Dodger franchise. The Eagle notes that the combined assessed value of the ballpark lot bordered by Sullivan Place, McKeever Place, Montgomery Street and Bedford Avenue and of several empty lots owned by the club for parking comes to exactly $1,459,000. The ballpark itself was built in 1913 at a cost of $500,000, and has been renovated and expanded on several occasions since then -- putting the estimated value of the real estate and building alone at or above the $2 million mark. The value of player contracts can be conservatively estimated at $750,000. In addition, the Dodgers own the Montreal Royals in the International League, the Elmira Pioneers in the Eastern League, the Olean Oilers in the Pony League, the Johnstown Johnnies in the Pennsylvania League, and the Americus Pioneers in the Georgia League, including ball park real estate and player contracts. And finally, the value of the Brooklyn franchise -- the right to play in the National League -- is in itself likely worth at least $100,000. And the goodwill and fan appeal associated with the Dodger name itself is likely of incalculable value. All of that makes it clear that Mr. Jacobs' $2,000,000 offer is mere peanuts, and makes it all but certain that he will not under any circumstances end up the owner of the team.

(But two million would buy an awful lot at Sears.)

(Joseph Ignatius Breen might not let them use the word "Nazi" in the film title, but they found a way to get it in the ad! Wonder what color shirt he wears?)

(No, that seaside vacation didn't go well AT ALL.)

(Striped-dress there on the end is already bucking for corporal.)

It took them twelve innings to do it, but the Dodgers won their fourth straight yesterday, topping the Giants 6-3 on the strength of a twelfth-inning three-run homer by Dolph Camilli. The Flock had lagged behind 3-1 until Pee Wee Reese poked a two-run homer into the left field seats in the top of the seventh. New pitching acquisition Wesley Flowers looked impressive in relief of Curt Davis, holding the Giants scoreless in a six-inning stint.

The Dodgers have long griped about the Giants' providing a canopy over the home bullpen at the Polo Grounds, but none for the visitors, and a group of Dodger fans from the Lefferts Grill on Flatbush Avenue decided to do something about it -- bringing along a canvas awning from the restaurant to shade the Dodger hurlers from the rays of the August sun.

The Giants thus disposed of, the Dodgers took flight this morning for Boston, where they begin a weekend series this afternoon against the Bees. The last time they visited the Hive, you will recall, they led off with a twenty-inning game, which they exhausted themselves winning, thus paving the way for the semi-tailspin that made up the rest of that road trip.

(If you own a cabin in the woods in 1940, you probably make a pretty good living renting it out to itinerant bands of petty hoods.)

(Point of order: that elephant did not belong to Uncle Zip. Tootsie, whereabouts yet unknown, belonged to Uncle Zip. Not-Tootsie belonged to that guy you rented her from, and you can count on not getting your deposit back when he finds out what's going on. All this will eventually come out in court.)

("And what about this picture of you sharing a beer with John P. Cassidy at the annual Christian Front picnic? Aw, wait, that's a picture of Clem Swiller. Hell of a state this is.")

(Somewhere a little boy named Francis Gary Powers is reading today's "Dan Dunn" and saying "Gee, that's what I wanna do when I grow up!")