The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

A German blitzkrieg invasion of Britain is feared within seventy-two hours, as an estimated six hundred Nazi bombers pounded two hundred miles of the Channel coast today. British military authorities and neutral observers in Switzerland were in agreement that the attack most likely means that the long-anticipated invasion is imminent. At least thirty-one Nazi planes were reported shot down by British fighters and anti-aircraft batteries, at least five of them on the southeast coast. Today's attack marked the third consecutive day of the German "power assault" on the British coast....

Great example of how fast opinion changes in war. It was just two days ago that the Eagle reported, "British military men are expressing the belief that the threat of a blitzkrieg invasion by Germany is dwindling by the day toward a vanishing point at the end of September. British experts declared their belief that the continued bombing by Nazi planes amount to 'terror raids,' rather than acting as the vanguard of a coming invasion." I'm not picking on them, sincerely, this stuff is all but impossible to call right when you're in the middle of it, just noting the big swing in opinion in two days.

...Judge Taylor placed the defendants on probation, and then railed against women who "guzzle in bars" to the extent that "respectable men" are afraid to enter a saloon. "...

I don't think he understands how this works. Men go into bars, half the time (at least), looking to find women. In thirty-plus years of patronizing bars with guy friends, I know there were many times we weren't looking for women (as we got older and married or paired up, etc.), but I never heard, not once, a guy say, "let's not go there because there are too many women." Kidding aside, just another example of politicians seeming to be the same subset of people who want to tell the rest of us, in this case, women, how to live.

...Nassau County police today continued their search for missing aircraft-company executive Bert M. Harvey of Lynbrook, missing since Friday afternoon. Airplanes have been dispatched to help search the woods in Nassau and Suffolk. Meanwhile, local authorities are dismissive of theories suggesting Harvey was abducted by German spies or saboteurs, and have so advised agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who have taken an interest in the case....

This one's interesting. You could see it going in several different directions.

...Borough President John Cashmore has made a personal donation to the committee making preparations for Fred Fitzsimmons Night at Ebbets Field this Friday. Contributions will be used to purchase an appropriate gift for the rotund righthander who is 11-2 for the Dodgers this season. Mayor LaGuardia will preside over the pregame ceremonies and will formally present the 39-year-old pitcher-coach with gifts donated by Dodger fans from all over the country....

With his teammates now smart enough to give the man getting his own evening a wide berth when he reads the Eagle, none were surprised when their star pitcher drop-kicked the garbage pail halfway across the locker room, flung the paper in the air and yelled, "'rotund' my *ss, stupid Eagle, I bet thick Wyatt over there is 'streamlined,' what bullish*t" [his teammate's were looking at the ground or ceiling by now as Whit Wyatt tried to shrink into his locker].

...The long-simmering controversy between Mayor LaGuardia and the city's two largest milk distributors appears to be over, with Sheffield Farms Company and the Borden Company having sent the Mayor checks totaling $91,120 to be distributed to farmers. The Mayor last September accused the milk firms of conspiring to undercut by six and a half cents per hundredweight the price to farmers that had been agreed upon following the resolution of the 1939 milk strike. The money paid by the companies to the Mayor represents the difference between the two prices, and will be apportioned to affected farmers by the Federal Market Administrator for New York...

Will the milk companies start advertising again now that that's over? They've been quiet for months.

...
("That Johnny Bath Beach!" snorts Joe. "Whatta mug he is! I seen him around! If I ever get a chance, I'm gonna..." "Walk as fast as ya can in th' otha direction," says Sally. "Rememba, you ain't got no life insurance.")...

It's no wonder why the movies where chockablock with mobster and mob stories in the '30s and '40s.

...The chairman of the board of the Texas Company has stepped down following revelations of his relationship with Nazi business envoy Dr. Gerhard Alois Westrick. Captain Torkild Rieber today quit his $100,000 per year job as head of Texaco, a resignation accepted by the company's Board of Directors "with real regret." A press release issued from company headquarters stated that "under existing circumstances it seemed advisable to accept the resignation." Rieber insisted that his friendship with Westrick had no political significance, stemming merely from Westrick's position as Texaco's legal representative in Germany. Rieber further stated that the company has not had any "permanent investment" in Germany in twenty years, and that it had not sold "a single barrel of oil" to Germany since the beginning of the war....

It's good to see at a least a little accountability.

...Along with the celebrations in honor of Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons this coming Friday night, and along with Pee Wee Reese's attempt to break the speed record for circling the bases, the Dodgers and Boston Bees will send their senior staffs out to the field to compete in what figures to be a spectacular pre-game relay race. Leo Durocher and coaches Chuck Dressen and Van Mungo will run for Brooklyn, while Casey Stengel and coaches Johnny Cooney and George Kelly will run for the Bees. It figures to be quite an evening....

Even though Mr. Fitzsimmons had already "finished with" his copy of the Eagle for the day, one noticed that his teammates were furtively looking around and quietly folding their copies and burying them deep in their lockers after they finished reading the sports pages. Ensuing locker-room conversation seemed to be nervously chipper and all about the weather, family and upcoming games.

... (BALK! Oh, and tell the groundskeeper to get out here and turn home plate back the way it's supposed to go.)...

Kudos to Rogers' illustration of what I'm guessing is, worn by the chief's lackey in panel one, a rough-hewn Donegal Tweed suit. That's not easy to convey in black-and-white newsprint. But home plate backwards is big goof.

... (Well, gee Irwin, you ought to put your name in at Texaco. I hear they have an opening.)

... Pfft to this bum, and why drag Hedy's name into it? She has nothing to do with this story.....

Completely agree, I was all set for some good Hedy Lamarr gossip only to find that she wasn't involved. That said, this guy sounds like the John Derek of his generation right down to the nude movie made of one of his beautiful wives.

"Life imprisonment under a statute forbidding the spreading of false reports." Hmm, our streets would quickly be thinned out with a law like that today.

...
(And none of them, amazingly enough, ever endorsed Rheingold.)...

Nice to see 1940 paying attention to famous women.

...[ Oh, don't even try with the knife. If Big Stoop doesn't tear you limb from limb, Connie will.....

You know Raven only wanted to ask about Pat, but used his last name and threw Terry into the mix so as to be less obvious about it. Hu Shee is not going down from a knife attack from this dweeb.

... Well, then you should immediately turn yourself in. You'll be safer in jail anyway, once Mama finds out....

The legal case against him seems dubious - he didn't hire nor encourage the pickpocket to freelance and he gave him the money to put in the young husband's pocket. Hence, that this guy went rogue doesn't really seem to be on Bim.

... The first time ever that a desk drawer gets a makeover...

Being trolled in absentia.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile in the apocalyptic hellscape that is 2020, I was shocked to see this today --

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/business/media/daily-news-office.html

I know that the News has been suffering in recent years -- every time I pick up a copy it's painfully evident that the paper is less than even a shadow of what it was even as recently as the '80s, but every time something like this happens it's painful. The News I used to read -- and the News we read in these posts -- was the greatest of all two-fisted city newspapers. You might not always agree with what it had to say, but by god, you noticed what it had to say, and you read it because the people who were saying it were some of the finest newspaper people in the business. To see it in what are clearly its last, wrenching days is genuinely tragic for anybody who loves newsprint.

 

[Fading Fast]

Meanwhile in the apocalyptic hellscape that is 2020, I was shocked to see this today --

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/business/media/daily-news-office.html

I know that the News has been suffering in recent years -- every time I pick up a copy it's painfully evident that the paper is less than even a shadow of what it was even as recently as the '80s, but every time something like this happens it's painful. The News I used to read -- and the News we read in these posts -- was the greatest of all two-fisted city newspapers. You might not always agree with what it had to say, but by god, you noticed what it had to say, and you read it because the people who were saying it were some of the finest newspaper people in the business. To see it in what are clearly its last, wrenching days is genuinely tragic for anybody who loves newsprint.

Saw it too and felt a wave of sadness even though the handwriting was on the wall.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Daily New's famous headquarters from '30-'95 (good news, the building is still there and looks great, but who knows what will happen to NYC office buildings after the pandemic).

Its fantastic lobby (still looks like this today, landmark protected):

 

[LizzieMaine]

Reports from Berlin claim that Nazi parachutists have landed in England to sabotage British defenses, even as fresh German air armadas blast anew at harbors and aerodromes in an unremitted air offensive to smash British war power. The German DNB news agency further reports that 22 British planes, most of them Hurricanes, nine barrage balloons, and five German aircraft were destroyed in the early phases of today's raids of harbor works and air fields on England's south coast.

British reports state that empty parachutes were found in two areas of England and Scotland, but no evidence was found of any actual parachutists, and it is suggested that the Germans may have simply dropped the parachutes from passing planes. A total of eleven parachutes were recovered in the Midlands, and it was reported that they appeared capable of supporting at least four hundred pounds each.

Navy Secretary Frank Knox today urged the House Military Committe to approve the pending conscription bill, because "if England is defeated we shall be without a friend in the world." Secretary Knox called the present world situation "the worst crisis in our history," and suggested that his earlier estimate that a 300,000-man Army would be sufficient with a two-ocean Navy, prepared before the fall of France, will not now be enough to provide adequate defense. Republican Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio meanwhile accused supporters of the conscription bill of "fomenting hysteria" in an attempt to build a "huge and unneeded" Army.

Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen has requested the selection of a special Blue Ribbon jury for the upcoming joint trial of eight individuals and several corporations charged with conspiracy to rig bids for city paving projects. That trial is expected to begin on September 9th. Meanwhile, Mr. Amen is proceeding to select a new grand jury to delve further into the paving bid scandal, choosing six new members out of a possible twenty-three who will serve.

A bigamy case in Kings County Court descended into a screaming, scratching, kicking brawl as two women who claim to be married to a 38 year old Bronx man went on the attack. Twenty-five-year-old Mary Kay Satin Brandler of 421 Crown Street in Flatbush and 33-year-old Gertrude Brandler of 5275 Eastburn Avenue in the Bronx both claim to be the legal wife of Julius Brandler of 96 Tilton Avenue in the Bronx, and when Brandler entered a guilty plea on the bigamy charge, the two women attacked each other. Court attendants and policemen rushed to pull the combatants apart, and Mary Kay Brandler ended the engagement with a long scratch down her face, claiming that Gertrude Brandler had threatened to throw lye in her face. Gertrude Brandler, for her part, charged Kay Brandler with stealing her husband, to whom she had been married since 1926, and who is the father of her three children. A contempt charge against Kay Brandler was dismissed, but Julius Brandler is being held for sentencing on $1000 bail.

A 23-year-old Williamsburg man will serve ninety days in jail on a disorderly conduct charge after "annoying" sailors at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Frank Grazis of 1115 New Montrose Avenue was arrested after several sailors complained that he was bothering them with questions about how many ships were in the yard, and how he could get a uniform that would allow him access to areas where blueprints are kept. The sailors further claimed that Grazis offered them $50 for the answers to his questions. Grazis claims he was drunk, and remembers nothing of the incidents, but he was found guilty of violating that section of the penal code that prohibits any person from "annoying" persons not known to them. Grazis stated that he is unemployed, and denied belonging to any "subversive organization."

(Temperatures today will remain in the 80s.)

An acrobatic patrolman rescued a "young Negro woman" from an attempted suicide this morning. Twenty-five-year-old Helen Cole of 427 Albee Square threatened to leap from the roof of that four-story building, and lowered herself by handholds from the rooftop to a ledge ten feet below. As neighbors tried to coax her down, Miss Cole threatened to leap into the alley below, but Patrolman Nathan Goldman of Emergency Squad No. 13 was lowered from the roof by a team of eight other policemen, and managed to wrap himself around the violently-protesting woman and pull her to safety. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital for observation.

A former pupil of PS 11 has come home to triumph in the Brighton Theatre's straw-hat production of "Springtime For Henry." Now a top-ranked movie comedian, Edward Everett Horton has come a long way since his Brooklyn childhood, and couldn't remember the last time he had trodden the local boards. (It was at the Crescent Theatre in 1913.)

(Mickey is the number one box office attraction in America in 1940, as he will remind anyone on every possible occasion for the rest of his life.)

The Eagle Editorialist comes down hard on the anti-conscription bloc, declaring that voluntary enlistments, no matter what incentives are offered, cannot and will not provide the level of military preparedness the US needs in these critical times. A draft also has the advantage, the EE points out, of being fair to all -- with rich and poor alike required to do their part for the common good.

The EE also takes a moment to emphasize that the season is still far from over, and the Dodgers still have a chance to nail that pennant to the pole. "It'll look mighty nice there, too."

(The British have "Colonel Blimp." This is his American cousin.)

The Dodgers and Phillies play two at Ebbets Field today, on the heels of yesterday's washout that put a stop to play after just a single inning with the Flock up 3-0. This afternoon, Dolph Camilli's fourteenth home run of the season gave Brooklyn an early lead in the first game of the twinbill and the Dodgers scored another in the third and racked up two more in the fifth on a triple by Dixie Walker. Score after five and a half innings stands now at Brooklyn 4, Philadelphia 1. Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons is going for his twelfth win of the season against Si Johnson for the Phillies.

Their catching ranks depleted by injuries to Ernie Lombardi and the death of Willard Hershberger, the Cincinnati Reds have placed forty-year-old coach Jimmy Wilson on their active roster. Wilson retired as an active player in 1939 after sixteen years in the National League with the Phillies and Cardinals, and served as player-manager for the Phils from 1934 to 1938. He joined the Reds coaching staff last year.

As the Reds and Dodgers duel for the National League pennant, the race is even tighter in the American League, where two games separate the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers. But the Tigers are so confident that they will hoist the banner this year that they have convinced the Michigan State Highway Department to widen a section of Trumbull Avenue adjacent to Briggs Stadium in anticipation of World Series crowds.

(In the Dodger clubhouse, Durocher gazes at the paper and his eyes narrow. He sneaks a look at Luke Hamlin and mutters out loud, "It could work.")

(Hmph. Zip is one to talk. Look who's wearing a morning suit in the middle of the afternoon.)

(And in panel two, John suddenly mutates into Harold Teen. Won't Leona be surprised.)

(Local guide, my foot. You're J. B. DOOK! Hey, you'll be glad to know we brought the dog!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Politics aside, Raisa Browder was a brilliant woman in the fundamental sense of the word, one of the first women ever to earn a law degree in Russia. She and Earl had three sons, all of them top-level mathematical geniuses who went on to distinguished academic careers. Their grandson Bill is someone observers of the post-Soviet kleptocracy might recognize.

Dance, chef, dance!

Of the strips mentioned, only "Mutt and Jeff" and the Katzenjammers are still running in 1940. Mutt and Jeff breathed their last in 1983 -- their final artist now draws "Gasoline Alley," to its detriment -- but the Katzies endured until 2006, a run of 109 years. "Gasoline Alley" has eight years to go to beat that record.

It's only a matter of time, now, before Bill returns to snarl "what's this beardo bum doing in my room?"

Made For Each Other.

Some of that extra cold ice that's dry! Dry for flavor, dry for that distinctive taste that never lets you down. Try extra cold, extra dry -- no, wait, that's Rheingold.

Bim will plead guilty, but it'll take him three days to get to the point.

That's gotta hurt. But whose fist?

And let this be a lesson to all. Before you go off half-cocked on any crazy plan, always take a minute to read the paper first.

"Dream books" were available at any newsstand or candy store in 1940 -- they were avidly used by policy players who imagined their dreams gave them clues on what numbers to play each day.

 

[Fading Fast]

...A bigamy case in Kings County Court descended into a screaming, scratching, kicking brawl as two women who claim to be married to a 38 year old Bronx man went on the attack. Twenty-five-year-old Mary Kay Satin Brandler of 421 Crown Street in Flatbush and 33-year-old Gertrude Brandler of 5275 Eastburn Avenue in the Bronx both claim to be the legal wife of Julius Brandler of 96 Tilton Avenue in the Bronx, and when Brandler entered a guilty plea on the bigamy charge, the two women attacked each other. Court attendants and policemen rushed to pull the combatants apart, and Mary Kay Brandler ended the engagement with a long scratch down her face, claiming that Gertrude Brandler had threatened to throw lye in her face. Gertrude Brandler, for her part, charged Kay Brandler with stealing her husband, to whom she had been married since 1926, and who is the father of her three children. A contempt charge against Kay Brandler was dismissed, but Julius Brandler is being held for sentencing on $1000 bail....

I doubt it would be allowed, but man would this be good stuff for comic-strip fodder. Leona would lose her mind if she discovered John was already married.

And, yes, there is a movie on the subject, "The Bigamist," but not until 1953 (not a bad movie, a bit slow in parts though).

...A 23-year-old Williamsburg man will serve ninety days in jail on a disorderly conduct charge after "annoying" sailors at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Frank Grazis of 1115 New Montrose Avenue was arrested after several sailors complained that he was bothering them with questions about how many ships were in the yard, and how he could get a uniform that would allow him access to areas where blueprints are kept. The sailors further claimed that Grazis offered them $50 for the answers to his questions. Grazis claims he was drunk, and remembers nothing of the incidents, but he was found guilty of violating that section of the penal code that prohibits any person from "annoying" persons not known to them. Grazis stated that he is unemployed, and denied belonging to any "subversive organization."...

It's probably exactly what it appears to be, but still, might be worth seeing if Grazis has any connection to our missing airplane-company executive Bert Harvey.

... (Mickey is the number one box office attraction in America in 1940, as he will remind anyone on every possible occasion for the rest of his life.)...

Heck, if Mickey really wanted to brag for the rest of his life about an achievement that no one would believe, how 'bout that he married Ava Gardner when she was nineteen years old. Chew on that one for a moment; the sex-goddess, the woman that had Frank Sinatra traversing the globe to get back, that woman married Andy Hardy in her aborning prime.

Husband and wife (officially she's four inches taller, I'll take the over on six)

... (In the Dodger clubhouse, Durocher gazes at the paper and his eyes narrow. He sneaks a look at Luke Hamlin and mutters out loud, "It could work.")...

Fun stuff, but they've got to fix home plate, once you notice it (thank you for that Lizzie), it's all you see.

...
Of the strips mentioned, only "Mutt and Jeff" and the Katzenjammers are still running in 1940. Mutt and Jeff breathed their last in 1983 -- their final artist now draws "Gasoline Alley," to its detriment -- but the Katzies endured until 2006, a run of 109 years. "Gasoline Alley" has eight years to go to beat that record.....

Two mentions for "The Yellow Kid." Had only (and maybe) the vaguest memory of even ever having heard about this strip.

... It's only a matter of time, now, before Bill returns to snarl "what's this beardo bum doing in my room?"...

Any money gonna change hands here?

... Some of that extra cold ice that's dry! Dry for flavor, dry for that distinctive taste that never lets you down. Try extra cold, extra dry -- no, wait, that's Rheingold....

And I thought you were going on about a favorite vermouth.

... That's gotta hurt. But whose fist?....

Pat's the obvious call, but I'm going to go with Raven. She's been looking like she wants to rumble since this storyline started.

... "Dream books" were available at any newsstand or candy store in 1940 -- they were avidly used by policy players who imagined their dreams gave them clues on what numbers to play each day.

Just example number ten billion in mankind's history of magical thinking.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Mickey Rooney, bless him, was the real-world Shadow Smart, only obsessed with marriage instead of sodas.

The Yellow Kid was the character who really kicked off the craze for comic strips in America in the 1890s. The phrase "yellow journalism" comes from the use of flamboyantly-colored Sunday comic sections in brutal circulation wars between Hearst and the New York Journal and Pulitzer's New York World. The Kid himself -- a snaggletoothed baldheaded apparition in a grubby yellow nightshirt, whose dialogue appeared on his clothes -- was a critical pawn in all of this.

His creator, R. F. Outcault, eventually abandoned him in favor of a character who was his opposite in every way -- none other than frilly-pantsed middle-class kid Buster Brown.

The gulf separating Outcault from such comic masters as Milton Caniff might seem unfathomable. But in the timeline of this thread, the Kid's heyday was a little over forty years ago, which is a pretty impressive evolution. And if you notice a resemblance between the Kid and Caniff's Connie, you wouldn't be the first. He never said if it was conscious homage or coincidence, but it's impossible not to see once you think about it.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Alice Marble is one of my favorite forgotten women of the Era. Tennis champion, assistant editor of the Wonder Woman comic book, crusader against segregation, and OSS super-spy. Where's her movie?

A look at what I found was just published in July:

https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Miss-Marble-Tennis-Mystery-ebook/dp/B082S16XVF

 

[LizzieMaine]

At least a thousand Nazi planes loosed upon Britain today the largest aerial bombardment in history, with attacks from Scotland to the southern coast. Bombs fell upon key industrial and military targets from a single vast aerial armada flying in a single formation estimated at thirty miles wide. It is believed that the horrific assault indicates the beginning of the long-awaited Nazi invasion of Britain, with London sources stating that today is indeed "der Tag" designated by Hitler for "the conquest of England."

As of five o'clock this afternoon (12 noon Brooklyn time) British authorities stated that 55 Nazi planes have been destroyed, with the loss of seven British fighter planes acknowledged. There are no precise confirmations of damage on the ground, but it is acknowledged that the scope of the German onslaught resembles "a tourist's itinerary."

New police regulations requiring all persons working in the city's 1200 cabarets and nightclubs to be photographed and fingerprinted can be traced directly to the activities of the Brooklyn Murder-for-Money syndicate, it was admitted by a high police official today. During the wholesale investigation of the gang by District Attorney William O'Dwyer it was established that night clubs are often "fronts" for gang operations and are in fact often directly financed by gang operatives for their own purposes. Along with the requirement that all nightclub staff, and all entertainers working in nightclubs be photographed and fingerprinted, new operating regulations stipulate that no licensed club may admit any "known criminal" onto the premises at any time. "Known Criminal" for purposes of the law is defined as any "gangster, racketeer, prostitute, procurer, degenerate, or person of similar character." Some 300 establishments in Brooklyn alone will be affected by the new regulations, with application forms now being prepared, and the actual fingerprinting expected to begin within two weeks.

Clams gathered from a polluted Canarsie beach are blamed for an outbreak of typhoid fever in Queens that has claimed the life of a Jamacia High School student and sickened eight others. The death of nineteen-year-old John Burford of Richmond Hill followed an incident in which he "took a nibble" of a raw clam picked up off Canarsie Beach while he was out fishing with friends in mid-July. Other cases are linked to clams known to have been gathered in the same area at the same time. The nine cases are the first appearance of typhoid in Canarsie since 1938. Following that outbreak two years ago, warning signs were posted on the beach prohibiting clamdigging, but those signs are now being ignored.

James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and Frederic March are among the Hollywood figures named as "communists" in an investigation conducted by Los Angeles County District Attorney Buron Fitts, but the identification has provoked a strong response from some of those named. Cagney, in a statement released by his business manager and brother, William Cagney, ridiculed Fitts's claim, stating that he is being targeted for "contributing money to feed and clothe striking California cotton field workers six years ago." March denounced John Lewis Leech of Portland, Oregon, a "former Communist" identified as Fitts's "chief informant," as "an unmitigated liar, and I would like to meet him and call him a liar to his face."

A caravan of Wendell Willkie supporters from Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island rolled thru the Holland Tunnel early today en route to witness their candidate's formal acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination. A motorcycle escort provided by the Queensboro Motorcycle Club led the motorcade out of the city, followed by a car with a former Follies dancer cavorting on its hood. That car was driven by Charles T. Shoop of College Point, a funeral director by profession, who organized the trip. Identifying himself as "an independent voter," Shoop predicted "ordinary people" will join the caravan as it heads west.

Preston Sturges' political satire "The Great McGinty" opened this week at the Times Square Paramount, and Robert Francis reports that this is a very funny picture that avoids the hackneyed cliches and melodrama of the political genre while hitting all the expected plot points in a way that's fresh and lively. Brian Donlevy is just right as the title character, a bartender in a South American saloon who was "once the Governor of a great state." The story unfolds in flashback, as that bartender relates the extraordinary tale of his rise and fall to a disbelieving drunk. Akim Tamiroff is memorable as "The Boss," political machinist who facilitates that rise -- and accompanies him in the fall.

(Please tell me that's a button on Pee Wee's polo shirt and not a gold medallion on a chain.)

Mayor LaGuardia will make his Brooklyn acting debut tomorrow at the Academy of Music as part of a program introducing the Federal Food Stamp Program to the borough. The Mayor has written a series of playlets dramatizing the operation of the program, and will act key roles in the sketches himself for the benefit of local grocers invited to attend the performance.

The Eagle Editorialist endorses Freddie Fitzsimmons Night, coming up on Friday at Ebbets Field, noting that the pitcher's success since joining the Dodgers in 1937 is proof that the world loves a "clean fighter." Freddie was on the scrap heap, an old man supposedly washed up and headed for the minor leagues when he joined the Flock three years ago, and now has the best pitching record in the National League, achieved by "having the spunk and the character to forego personal advantage for the good of the team."

(How did Mr. Lichty get hold of Bim Gump's wedding album?)

Boxing promoter Mike Jacobs will not be buying the Dodgers at any price. So ruled Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who declared yesterday that "boxing and baseball do not go together." The Commissioner's rejection of the rumored deal puts a positive end to any possible Jacobs purchase of Dodger stock, since under the regulations governing Organized Baseball, all such transactions require his personal approval.

The Dodgers split a pair with Philadelphia yesterday, and with the Reds having been rained out in Chicago, the Flock drops back half a game in the National League race. Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons won his twelfth game of the season in the opener against only two defeats, but Curt Davis couldn't hold himself together in the nightcap, and Wes Flowers and Hugh Casey only made things worse. The disintegration of Casey, who was Brooklyn's most effective reliever down the stretch in 1939 is sorely vexatious to Leo Durocher, who can't explain or understand the big pink-faced righthander's loss of control. Casey nearly blew the first game when he relieved Fitzsimmons in the ninth and immediately loaded the bases. Only the valiant efforts of Tex Carleton were able to extinguish the flames and preserve the win. Casey then tried again in the second game in a mop-up role, and dished out a walk and a wild pitch before Leo decided he'd seen enough.

Whit Wyatt, who is getting serious support as a possible candidate for the 1940 Most Valuable Player Award, will start today to close out the Phillies series.

Pee Wee Reese, another MVP prospect, is on a rampage these days. He's reached base one way or another in twenty-six consecutive games.

The summer broadcast doldrums mean nothing to Brooklyn's own Ezra Stone, who now has the most popular radio program in the country, with "The Aldrich Family" at the top of the latest ratings charts.

(Good thing they don't do "post game interviews" in 1940.)

(Of course not your Tootsie. Your Tootsie was last seen puffed up with helium, floating off over Long Island Sound.)

(I still think Screed is in on this, and I hope Mary is breaking into his safe right now to find the proof.)

(Meet Dude Hennick's slimy brother, the one they never talk about.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

You know, it's pretty low to resort to making fun of someone's name, but I can't help but think that one can't really expect to go far in academia if their name is "Wilbur Gooch."

Oh, and Fat Hermann -- give us a twirl!

Mr. Jemail seems to be throwing a few admiring glances himself.

SOON YOU WILL ALL DO MY BIDDING

An ice cream suit and a black silk shirt make for a stylish combination on any life or death commando raid. Pat is giving Mr. Mullins a serious run for the Funnies Fashion King title.

If this storyline ends with Wilmer, Skeezix, and Mr. Wumple in a three-way fistfight over the attentions of Miss Glip, I for one will laugh and laugh.

Because globe-spanning billionaires always turn themselves in at neighborhood police stations whenever they even think they might have done something wrong. Ah, Bim, god love ya.

Harold, you chump. You and Lillums have had what people will one day call a destructive and co-dependent relationship since you were kids, and you're never going to become a psychologically-healthy adult until you recognize that and move on. Oh, and you totally know she's going with Beezie.

Nyeeeeeeeeeeah, COULD BE!

I was surprised to see that Emmy has so many friends, until I realized they were probably all just neighbors who smelled something burning.

 

[Fading Fast]

...New police regulations requiring all persons working in the city's 1200 cabarets and nightclubs to be photographed and fingerprinted can be traced directly to the activities of the Brooklyn Murder-for-Money syndicate, it was admitted by a high police official today. During the wholesale investigation of the gang by District Attorney William O'Dwyer it was established that night clubs are often "fronts" for gang operations and are in fact often directly financed by gang operatives for their own purposes. Along with the requirement that all nightclub staff, and all entertainers working in nightclubs be photographed and fingerprinted, new operating regulations stipulate that no licensed club may admit any "known criminal" onto the premises at any time. "Known Criminal" for purposes of the law is defined as any "gangster, racketeer, prostitute, procurer, degenerate, or person of similar character." Some 300 establishments in Brooklyn alone will be affected by the new regulations, with application forms now being prepared, and the actual fingerprinting expected to begin within two weeks....

The only people left will be the customers and even their ranks will be thinned.

Leona got out of the Club Buccaneer just in time.

...
(Please tell me that's a button on Pee Wee's polo shirt and not a gold medallion on a chain.)...

Just asking, does Pee Wee live in Brooklyn? I note a bit of foreshadowing of this famous fictional Brooklyn son:

...The Dodgers split a pair with Philadelphia yesterday, and with the Reds having been rained out in Chicago, the Flock drops back half a game in the National League race. Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons won his twelfth game of the season in the opener against only two defeats, but Curt Davis couldn't hold himself together in the nightcap, and Wes Flowers and Hugh Casey only made things worse. The disintegration of Casey, who was Brooklyn's most effective reliever down the stretch in 1939 is sorely vexatious to Leo Durocher, who can't explain or understand the big pink-faced righthander's loss of control. Casey nearly blew the first game when he relieved Fitzsimmons in the ninth and immediately loaded the bases. Only the valiant efforts of Tex Carleton were able to extinguish the flames and preserve the win. Casey then tried again in the second game in a mop-up role, and dished out a walk and a wild pitch before Leo decided he'd seen enough....

Mr. Fitzsimmons' teammates slowly backed away while he read the Eagle today, but Freddie - having recently consulted with a spiritual guru (thankfully, not one recommended by The Bungles or Dick Tracy) - surprised his team when, after gently folding and then putting down the now-read paper, remained calmly seated at his locker as he started quietly chanting to himself while assuming this pose (FFF looks a bit less, shall we say, svelte in his pose):



Separately, the Dodgers are lucky to be as close as they are the way they've been playing.

... (Of course not your Tootsie. Your Tootsie was last seen puffed up with helium, floating off over Long Island Sound.)...

It really seems that Tuthill has forgotten that he switched elephants.

... (Meet Dude Hennick's slimy brother, the one they never talk about.)

Irwin better shop for some scuba gear:

A recent U.S. Geological Survey assessment identified the potential for undiscovered crude oil resources in a subsea formation south of the island, but Puerto Rico has no proved petroleum reserves, and the island neither produces nor currently refines crude oil. (Source: US Energy Information Administration, 2019)


..Oh, and Fat Hermann -- give us a twirl!....[/QUOTE]

Goering could never have been a fictional character; no one would've believe it.

Sometimes, I'm just exhausted when I finish with this page. People really complicate their lives.

...[ SOON YOU WILL ALL DO MY BIDDING....

This has got to stop. Maybe Yogee can hop a plane down here (he's at the airport) and open up shop or Senga can sail up (she was deported south, wasn't she?) and start grifting; heck, what's Capt'n Blaze been up to lately, he could own this town in two weeks - something, anything is better than all this "he's a good man" stuff.

... An ice cream suit and a black silk shirt make for a stylish combination on any life or death commando raid. Pat is giving Mr. Mullins a serious run for the Funnies Fashion King title.....

My call was wrong again. I knew Pat was the easy choice, but I thought Caniff would let Raven be the hero this time. And, think Pee Wee, white suits and sport coats seem all the rage today.

... Because globe-spanning billionaires always turn themselves in at neighborhood police stations whenever they even think they might have done something wrong. Ah, Bim, god love ya....

I believe you said it, there's definitely a 19th Century romanticism to "The Gumps."

... Harold, you chump. You and Lillums have had what people will one day call a destructive and co-dependent relationship since you were kids, and you're never going to become a psychologically-healthy adult until you recognize that and move on. Oh, and you totally know she's going with Beezie.....

I've come in too late to know the backstory, but pretty teenage girls rarely want for male attention .

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pee Wee, once he quits running around with coat models and gets married, will live for many years in a duplex in Bay Ridge.

The article is fascinating. Those houses now sell for more than Pee Wee made in his entire baseball career.

 

[Fading Fast]

Pee Wee, once he quits running around with coat models and gets married, will live for many years in a duplex in Bay Ridge.

The article is fascinating. Those houses now sell for more than Pee Wee made in his entire baseball career.

Good article. In retrospect, it's not hard (as most things aren't in retrospect ) to see why Brooklyn has become so popular and expensive. Away from all the hipster stuff and gentrification arguments, the borough simply has so much going for it in convenience, architecture, infrastructure and location, that it should be a successful thriving "city."

I remember going there in the '80s when it was worse than rundown - it was outright drug-infested and dangerous - and you could still see what it had been and could be again. Of course, I didn't have the foresight to invest, but sincerely, did think at the time, "wow, you can see what this place had once been and could be brought back to."

As to home prices vis-a-vis Pee Wee's salary and I know you know all of this, a few key variable matter. One, baseball players "won their freedom" and not only make more because the owners don't capture an unfair share any longer, but the players fair share has become huge owing to TV contracts (plus promotional dollars have increased dramatically, right along with the salaries). Two, home prices in Brooklyn have outstripped inflation by a factor of five or more. And, three, Brooklyn's demographic went from being working class to white collar, which further drove up prices. Not arguing the right or wrong of any of that, just saying that it is.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A friend of mine owned a building in Williamsburg. He bought it in the 70s for, basically, pocket change, and sold it to move up here just before the hipster boom of the early 2000s. He did all right, but if he'd held onto it for just a couple more years he'd never have to worry about anything ever again.

Brooklyn has a lot going for it these days, but they what they really ought to have is a major league baseball team again. The Mets should have built their new park there -- they already control the territory -- instead of Citi Field.

 

[Fading Fast]

A friend of mine owned a building in Williamsburg. He bought it in the 70s for, basically, pocket change, and sold it to move up here just before the hipster boom of the early 2000s. He did all right, but if he'd held onto it for just a couple more years he'd never have to worry about anything ever again.

Brooklyn has a lot going for it these days, but they what they really ought to have is a major league baseball team again. The Mets should have built their new park there -- they already control the territory -- instead of Citi Field.

Could not agree more. These in-city stadiums do so much for the communities that they are in, not only economically, but also in creating a feeling of community of it being "our" team (and, yes, I know we're all just rooting for laundry). As a kid, you felt the difference immediately when you went to Yankee versus Shea stadium.

At Yankee Stadium, you feel the city around you - the subways rumbling by, the local stores, etc. At Shea, you felt like you were going to a mall. I even think the visual of seeing the stadium form the outside is nice for in-city stadiums.

And don't even get me started on the football Giants playing in "The Meadowlands," which is just ugly swamp land in northern NJ where the mob (literally) used to dump the bodies. Sadly, a lot of the torn-down Penn Station that wasn't able to be sold off was dumped in the stupid hateful Meadowlands.

I was really hoping, when, ten or so years ago, they were talking about building a new football stadium for the Jets and Giants that they would put it in the city on the Westside - seemed like a possibility for awhile. Now, with NYC struggling, that could be something that could be part of the effort to bring the City back eventually. But no, instead they put up a bunch of office buildings, condos and "retail space," as if the city didn't have enough of that already.

 

[LizzieMaine]

More than 2500 Nazi warplanes today rocked Great Britain in an attack doubling the size and scope of yesterday's juggernaut, with bombs raining down on London in the area of Barking-on-Thames, with large explosions seen in areas where powder magazines are stored in the city's East End. Authorized German sources issued a warning before the raid that the planes were on the way, in an effort to "prove that no power on earth can stop the German Air Force from dropping bombs on English soil wherever it desires."

Censorship has clamped down tight on British reports as the bombing continues, but it is believed that approximately 4000 front-line British airplanes are in the air to meet the raiders. The Associated Press reports a blackout of all news from London extending for more than two hours at the height of the raid. As of 2 PM Brooklyn time, that blackout remains in effect.

A twenty-eight-year-old cook from the U. S. Maritime Academy at Governor's Island could hang from a noose in the cupola of Brooklyn's Federal Building if he is convicted on pending murder charges. Edward McGivney is charged with stabbing Second-Class Seaman William Pasht to death, and wounding First-Class Seaman William Harkins last Saturday night in a three-way argument over a woman. As the crime took place on Federal property, McGivney will be tried in Federal court, and if convicted could face a death sentence carried out under Federal law -- which in this case could require his execution by hanging on the grounds of the Federal Building, where the old Victorian-era gibbet remains installed inside the tower.

A 43-year-old Flushing woman who earns $19 a week working as a charwoman at the RCA Building in Manhattan may be sitting on a literal fortune, following the discovery of a gold mine in her cellar. Workers repairing plumbing in the cellar of her home discovered gold-bearing ore, with its content subsequently confirmed by a Government assay. But Mrs. Violet Klimwich isn't about to give up her job, noting that having workers digging the ore out of her cellar all the time would make living in her house very uncomfortable. She does offer to sell the house and lot for $50,000 to any takers, even Mr. Rockefeller himself if he's interested, but she's otherwise not too excited by the whole business.

A Brooklyn man plunged to his death this morning from the seventh floor of a bank building in New Haven, Connecticut. The suicide, tentatively identified as 50-year-old Joseph Owens of 1151 Bedford Avenue, shouted "Here I come!" before jumping from a window ledge as several hundred onlookers screamed in terror. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The address found on documents in his pockets is that of a diner, where the proprietor said Owens received his mail, but was otherwise homeless. His last known employment was as driver of a fruit truck on a route between New York and Maine.

Firemen in Brooklyn will soon carry miniature two-way radios, following successful testing of the devices. The radios will allow firefighters inside burning buildings to warn their fellow firemen outside of impending danger. The battery-powered radios weigh about fifteen pounds each, and have an effective range of about a quarter of a mile. Each unit is contained in a waterproof case, and may be collapsed for easy transport.

New regulations eliminating Grade A and B milk will take effect in the city on September 1st, and it is reported that up to seventy-five percent of milk distributors will be ready by that time to handle only the new "Approved Grade." An official of the Borden Company, the city's second-largest milk handler, stated that his firm might be slightly delayed in adopting the new standard, due to difficulties in obtaining bottle caps imprinted with the specified language.

A. R. writes to Helen Worth asking her to settle an argument between herself and a friend. A. R. says her friend doesn't like "God Bless America" because she considers it "mawkish sentiment," but A. R. disagrees. Helen shrugs and says that there doesn't seem to be much value in arguing over this point because like it or not, "God Bless America" has made its impression and seems to be here to stay.

It will seem like old times this fall when Al Jolson and Ed Wynn both return to Broadway for the first time in years. But both performers, who have spent most of their time in recent years focused on radio programs, are hedging their bets by arranging to book their new revues into smaller theatres just in case the public isn't as interested in seeing them cavort in person as they were in earlier days.

(A movie adaptation of a ribald George Abbott/Rodgers-and-Hart stage musical based on a Shakespeare farce, and featuring Joe Penner and Martha Raye. God bless 1940.)

("Just to be safe ya better let me hold onto any...")

Wendell Willkie will be on the air tomorrow afternoon over all networks from his hometown of Elwood, Indiana to formally accept the Republican presidential nomination, and tonight CBS will broadcast a special program from Elwood describing some of the the accompanying festivities, beginning at 10 pm over WABC. CBS reporter Robert Trout, and comedian Walter O'Keefe, representing the Republican National Committee's Radio, Stage, and Screen Division will act as co-masters of ceremonies. Among the guests will be "the girl with whom the candidate had his first date."

(NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

Pee Wee Reese is done for the season, after fracturing his left Achilles heel sliding into second base in the seventh inning of yesterday's game against the Phillies at Ebbets Field. The sensational rookie shortstop was hitting .273 and had reached base in twenty-seven consecutive games when he sustained the injury. With three on and two out, and the Dodgers two runs behind Reese barrelled into second, but when he tried to slide he instead rammed the bag stiff-legged and keeled over onto his face. Cookie Lavagetto and Herman Franks had to help him off the field, and he was taken to Caledonian Hospital where x-rays revealed the season-ending extent of the injury. The Dodgers went on to lose the game 4-2.

The loss of the rookie wonder comes at the worst possible time for the Dodgers, with the Reds having lost twelve of their last eighteen games and the Flock needing to take advantage of that situation by making up lost ground. Thirty-five-year-old Leo Durocher says he'll put himself back into the lineup as regular shortstop for the stretch run, with Johnny Hudson as his backup, promising to "give it both barrels" in covering for Reese's absence.

Meanwhile, the disintegration of the Dodger pitching staff other than for Wyatt and Fitzsimmons means the front office is looking hard at possible stretch-run acquisitions. One possible pickup could be 31-year-old Lon Warnecke, who is 10-7 for the Cardinals this year. The Redbirds have thrown in the towel on this season and are trying a platoon of new mound talent, meaning that Warnecke might be bound for the waiver wire. If so. MacPhail and Durocher may try to get him for Brooklyn.

Tonight is "Fred Fitzsimmons Night" at Ebbets Field, as the Fat Fellow receives well-deserved honors from his teammates, city officials, and his fans. The fundraising drive among Dodger rooters yielded sufficiently to purchase a shiny new Chrysler from car-selling pitcher Hugh Casey for the occasion. The Dodger players ponied up to buy Freddie a fine shotgun, the Brooklyn Elks have donated a portable radio, and the Baseball Writers Association has contributed a pair of excellent smoking pipes. A local bar and grill where Dodger rooters congregate has contributed a fine wristwatch, and American Airlines has commissioned Fat Fred an admiral in its flying corps. Other gifts are still streaming in as of press time.

(Hey Chuckie! Whoya callin' fat? With all these kids here, izzat nice? Who's gettin' a night, huh Chuckie? Not you, ya skinny little runt. Not you, Chuckie! Howya like that?)

(Superman in his heyday was an adept troll, but he's got nothing on our boy Sparky.)

(I'd give a lot to see the look on Jo's face right now.)

(For your sake, chum, have Mary look that over before you send it out.)

(Oily hair? Check. Monocle? Check. Stooped posture? Check. AN OBVIOUS SPY.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

And the lesson to be learned is "Never hire any executive to work on a commission basis." As for Buron Fitts, you'd have to dig pretty deep to find a grubbier, more corrupt civil servant, even in the epically sleazy annals of Los Angeles politics. It's a pity Cagney and Bogart never caught him alone up an alley.

Look, if this Chef Salvador Dali is going to be your new boy, at least have him do something more interesting than just stand there.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (snort) HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can't believe this didn't make page four.

"Oh yeah? Well, if my pal Nick was here, he'd track the guy down and shank him!"

It ain't easy bein' Bim.

Miss Glip's moves are so well observed that they have to have been drawn from a live model. And I bet Mrs. King couldn't stand her.

Odds that our boy runs into a grifter on his way to the station now running at even money.

Shut up, Pat -- I want to hear how Terry answers that question.

Aren't you supposed to blow out the candles before slicing the cake? Gawd knows Emmy's had enough birthday cakes by now to get it right.

Meth lab, 1940 style.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
A 43-year-old Flushing woman who earns $19 a week working as a charwoman at the RCA Building in Manhattan may be sitting on a literal fortune, following the discovery of a gold mine in her cellar. Workers repairing plumbing in the cellar of her home discovered gold-bearing ore, with its content subsequently confirmed by a Government assay. But Mrs. Violet Klimwich isn't about to give up her job, noting that having workers digging the ore out of her cellar all the time would make living in her house very uncomfortable. She does offer to sell the house and lot for $50,000 to any takers, even Mr. Rockefeller himself if he's interested, but she's otherwise not too excited by the whole business....

What I'm hearing is that she doesn't want to work the mine, but instead, prefers to sell it. Considering that the average price of a home in the US in 1940 is ~$3000, she's not at all indifferent to the value of what she has (as the picture's headline implies), she just wants to profit from it via a sale versus developing it herself.

I have to believe all her neighbors are checking their basement substrate as we speak (George Bungle has been down in his all morning).

...Firemen in Brooklyn will soon carry miniature two-way radios, following successful testing of the devices. The radios will allow firefighters inside burning buildings to warn their fellow firemen outside of impending danger. The battery-powered radios weigh about fifteen pounds each, and have an effective range of about a quarter of a mile. Each unit is contained in a waterproof case, and may be collapsed for easy transport....

The iPhone of its day.

... (A movie adaptation of a ribald George Abbott/Rodgers-and-Hart stage musical based on a Shakespeare farce, and featuring Joe Penner and Martha Raye. God bless 1940.)...

RKO clearly doesn't have the star power of "more stars than there are in heaven" MGM. It actually looks like an independent production with RKO just showing it, but regardless, you can feel in the ad that they are trying to make up for in numbers what they lack in first-tier star power.

... View attachment 254212
(NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

Pee Wee Reese is done for the season, after fracturing his left Achilles heel sliding into second base in the seventh inning of yesterday's game against the Phillies at Ebbets Field. The sensational rookie shortstop was hitting .273 and had reached base in twenty-seven consecutive games when he sustained the injury. With three on and two out, and the Dodgers two runs behind Reese barrelled into second, but when he tried to slide he instead rammed the bag stiff-legged and keeled over onto his face. Cookie Lavagetto and Herman Franks had to help him off the field, and he was taken to Caledonian Hospital where x-rays revealed the season-ending extent of the injury. The Dodgers went on to lose the game 4-2.

The loss of the rookie wonder comes at the worst possible time for the Dodgers, with the Reds having lost twelve of their last eighteen games and the Flock needing to take advantage of that situation by making up lost ground. Thirty-five-year-old Leo Durocher says he'll put himself back into the lineup as regular shortstop for the stretch run, with Johnny Hudson as his backup, promising to "give it both barrels" in covering for Reese's absence.

Meanwhile, the disintegration of the Dodger pitching staff other than for Wyatt and Fitzsimmons means the front office is looking hard at possible stretch-run acquisitions. One possible pickup could be 31-year-old Lon Warnecke, who is 10-7 for the Cardinals this year. The Redbirds have thrown in the towel on this season and are trying a platoon of new mound talent, meaning that Warnecke might be bound for the waiver wire. If so. MacPhail and Durocher may try to get him for Brooklyn....

The Reds really have done everything they could to help the Dodgers catch them and, still, we're five games out and now with Pee Wee done for the season (and that sounded like a painful injury).

...Tonight is "Fred Fitzsimmons Night" at Ebbets Field, as the Fat Fellow receives well-deserved honors from his teammates, city officials, and his fans. The fundraising drive among Dodger rooters yielded sufficiently to purchase a shiny new Chrysler from car-selling pitcher Hugh Casey for the occasion. The Dodger players ponied up to buy Freddie a fine shotgun, the Brooklyn Elks have donated a portable radio, and the Baseball Writers Association has contributed a pair of excellent smoking pipes. A local bar and grill where Dodger rooters congregate has contributed a fine wristwatch, and American Airlines has commissioned Fat Fred an admiral in its flying corps. Other gifts are still streaming in as of press time.

[
(Hey Chuckie! Whoya callin' fat? With all these kids here, izzat nice? Who's gettin' a night, huh Chuckie? Not you, ya skinny little runt. Not you, Chuckie! Howya like that?)...

My dad was an Elk and participated in many of those crippled children events (my dad's branch use to take the kids to a circus, in addition to ballgames, every year). I got the impression that it was a big part of the Elks in the '40s and '50s.

N.B., Hopefully, FFF's newfound spiritual sangfroid is holding up as he'll need it today. That or all his new toys will keep him happy.

...[ (Superman in his heyday was an adept troll, but he's got nothing on our boy Sparky.)...

Sparky's conducting a master-class in superhero trolling. It's an outstanding out-of-the-gate move for the strip. As I mentioned in an earlier post, just from the pics I saw of Sparky's comic books (I didn't read about him), it doesn't seem that baseball stayed a big part of his story, but I guess we'll just have to see how it develops.

... (I'd give a lot to see the look on Jo's face right now.)...

I'm really curious to see if Tuthill's going to remember he switched elephants.

... And the lesson to be learned is "Never hire any executive to work on a commission basis." As for Buron Fitts, you'd have to dig pretty deep to find a grubbier, more corrupt civil servant, even in the epically sleazy annals of Los Angeles politics. It's a pity Cagney and Bogart never caught him alone up an alley.....

Commission structures need to be very carefully designed or the "mal-incentives" can be huge. Also, never do it, as here, on a top-line revenue basis as that leads to a drive for revenue that ignores costs. I've seen managers, literally, spend $1.10 to get a $1.00 of new business, since they got paid on the $1 regardless of costs (they try to mask that that is what they were doing, but spend enough time interviewing employees and dissecting the books and it will come out). Humans running unions, gov't agencies, charities or companies will find a way to maximize the return to themselves.

A.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (snort) HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can't believe this didn't make page four...

Hmm, so let me see if I'm following this story correctly. A young man of modest means in the Midwest marries a, seemingly, nice women and they have a good marriage that produces three children. Then, they move to New York City where he hits it big, the money starts pouring in and he, effectively, leaves his wife for a young hottie. No, that never happens.

... "Oh yeah? Well, if my pal Nick was here, he'd track the guy down and shank him!"...

You just brought up Nick to hurt me.

... Miss Glip's moves are so well observed that they have to have been drawn from a live model. And I bet Mrs. King couldn't stand her....

Let's just hope the Kings didn't move from the Midwest to New York where, then, his comic strip went big time. Just sayin'.

Kidding aside, those are really well done illustrations.

. Shut up, Pat -- I want to hear how Terry answers that question....

Pat, you can take off the stupid helmet now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I would very much like to see that version of "The Boys From Syracuse," since it was one of Rodgers and Hart's best scores of the '30s, and the idea of a low-budget movie version with a cast made up entirely of B-comedians and supporting actors seems intriguing. But probably due to lingering rights issues, it's never been given a legitimate home media release, and I just can't bear another blurry ninetieth-generation bootleg dupe. Sigh. Joe Penner and Martha Raye doing Shakespeare, sort of. Sigh.

Russ Case was a pretty legitimate swing trumpeter before he went to NBC and turned into a studio musician, and Fredda Gibson would go on to become a very popular vocalist of the mid-forties under the name of Georgia Gibbs. (Her real name, incidentally, was Frieda Lipschutz. It must have been hard for the process server to find her, given the layers of pseudonyms.)

Pat and Terry look like they just got out of the swimming pool in that headgear. Ooowee.