The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

And we have a winner in our Phoniest of All Phony Counts Sweepstakes. And only 27 years old. Imagine what he could have accomplished if he made it to 30.

Who needs Childs?

To be honest, "clean campaigning" went out the window long ago.

Anyone for chess?

Look, if you really are the kid's mother, what's stopping you from telling the truth? Seriously?

Wait, you mean those whiskers aren't real???? CHIEF BRANDON, IS THAT YOU?????

"A lot of gall and no brains." I see you've met Wilmer then.

"What? In jail??" "No, it's worse! He's going on an audience-participation radio show!"

Lillums? Lillums who?

Bingo? Hey, why not try your luck? Maybe Moon can fix the gas gauge while you're gone.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
(Hey, now, Ben is actually a very bright guy, a polymath among radio announcers, even. If any radio personality could do this, he's the one.)...

It would be nice to see the Eagle bring the same level of transparent skepticism to its advertisers.

..."Knute Rockne -- All American" is a "sincere and deft" tribute to the man who put Notre Dame on the football map and revolutionized how the game is played, according to Herbert Cohn, who ventured up to the New York Strand to see the picture. The entire film is well cast, especially Pat O'Brien, done up in a putty nose, a false chin, and a bald-head wig as Rockne himself and Gale Page as wife Bonnie....)

Hard to image the false chin staying on easily. Pat O'Brien could be the best male GE actor who has fallen completely off the modern radar. Grant, Flynn, Gable, Cooper, Tracy and a few others still have some currency today, but you never run into Pat O'Brien in modern cultural references.

...At the Patio, it's Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson in "Pride and Prejudice," paired with Carole Landis and John Hubbard in "Turnabout." Something for everyone....

I'd argue that 1940's "Pride and Prejudice," despite dated to 1940 in ways, is still the top one or two adaptations of a Jane Austen novel. Greer Garson and Edmund Gwenn have incredible chemistry as the daughter and father while the script captures (kept) much of Ms. Austen's wit and sharp social commentary.

And Joe liked Ms. Landis better in "One Million B.C." (I really wanted to post Ms. Landis' "One Million B.C." pic again, but restrained myself.)

.. (With the baseball season over, it's time for incisive political satire.)...

osculation
noun os·cu·la·tion | \ ˌä-skyə-ˈlā-shən \
: the act of kissingalso : KISS

... (OK, we're listening.)...

I stopped counting, but with today dragging it out to another day, we have to be close to T+Eighteen Days past when this information should have been shared.

... (Dan takes on his most implacable enemy of all -- procedure!!)

Spot on Lizzie. Also, Dan's what, a half hour, maybe, ahead of the Fazians? I doubt - in the real world - there's that much they can do to prepare for an attack in that short a time. Heck, it would take him longer than a half hour to convince anyone that his information is real (kinda what Lizzie just said).

... And we have a winner in our Phoniest of All Phony Counts Sweepstakes. And only 27 years old. Imagine what he could have accomplished if he made it to 30....

If someone asked me what "Page Four" is all about, I'd hand them today's page as it has almost everything a good "Page Four" needs:

• A gruesome murder mystery

• A no-idea-why-it's-on-this-page corporate earnings report

• A phony count playboy (good one Lizzie) - who burns through inherited money while accumulating wives, lovers and lawsuits - dying from a drug and alcohol overdoes (and a fall, don't forget the fall)

• The Oomph girl lip-locked with another star while feuding with her Hollywood studio over money

• Some politics (a bit of a weak entry today as it had no tawdriness to it - dirty/scandalous politics is better "Page Four" fodder)

• Perhaps the stupidest ex-con-revenge plot ever

• "The Neighbors" experiencing one of life's daily foibles

It's an almost perfect "Page Four" day. Heck, they should sell it as a separate paper.

... Anyone for chess?...

So, Chopstick Joe's got some game, this should be good.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Nobody ever did a better job of playing a fast-talking con man than Pat O'Brien -- he had a whole string of parts like this in mid-thirties Warner pictures, things like "Twenty Million Sweethearts," "Boy Meets Girl," "Page Miss Glory," etc. etc. Often he appeared as the kind of sleazy press agent that Mr. Ransom in the Eagle is so incensed about, and he always has a fast line of bunk that lets no one else ever get in a word. Usually someone punches him in the face about two-thirds of the way thru the picture, or he punches someone else in the face, but he never, ever learns his lesson.

Which is why he's so good in "Rockne" -- it's the ultimate casting against type. It would be like casting Cagney as a small-town schoolteacher with thick glasses and no sense of rhythm, or Bogart as a tormented ballet instructor.

I had no idea that "oomphy" was a word.

Caniff seems to enjoy writing these Chinese characters who deliberately play up the whole "forgive this unworthy one, honorable sir" stereotype to the hilt, only to shed the disguise at a moment's notice. Even in the Era many people consciously saw these kinds of stereotypes *as stereotypes,* and not as depictions of reality.

The absolute non-plus-ultra Page Four also needs a mob story, preferably with lots of salty nicknames and some mention of either Thomas E. Dewey or William O'Dwyer. Better luck tomorrow.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

Headlines from Oct. 18th...

This meat ad is very funny to me ( as a Vegan/Vegetarian) given what is now known about meat theses days.
I get my proteins from beans, veggies ( green beans, peas, spinach) peanut butter, and tree nuts. These are
pretty much the staples I have in my kitchen. And I type all the time at my job too, LOL. Oh, and I can pretty much veganize the menu listed too.

 

[Fading Fast]

Nobody ever did a better job of playing a fast-talking con man than Pat O'Brien -- he had a whole string of parts like this in mid-thirties Warner pictures, things like "Twenty Million Sweethearts," "Boy Meets Girl," "Page Miss Glory," etc. etc. Often he appeared as the kind of sleazy press agent that Mr. Ransom in the Eagle is so incensed about, and he always has a fast line of bunk that lets no one else ever get in a word. Usually someone punches him in the face about two-thirds of the way thru the picture, or he punches someone else in the face, but he never, ever learns his lesson.

Which is why he's so good in "Rockne" -- it's the ultimate casting against type. It would be like casting Cagney as a small-town schoolteacher with thick glasses and no sense of rhythm, or Bogart as a tormented ballet instructor.....

And when Cagney and O'Brien are together - the words come out faster than the human ear can take in. "The Torrid Zone" is a mediocre movie made good by Cagney and O'Brien bantering at warp speed with O'Brien lacking any scruples at all. And, see below, our Oomph girl goes toe to toe with them in that one. The plot is about a banana plantation, something, something, oh, who cares, just watch Cagney, O'Brien and Sheridan.

...I had no idea that "oomphy" was a word...

Hollywood has never lacked for sobriquets for sex attached to female stars - Oomph, pin-up, sweater girl, bombshell and others, but in truth, the original one was the Occam's Razor best: the "it" girl. That's it, we all know exactly what they meant.

Well, thank your for remembering me, Clara Bow

...Caniff seems to enjoy writing these Chinese characters who deliberately play up the whole "forgive this unworthy one, honorable sir" stereotype to the hilt, only to shed the disguise at a moment's notice. Even in the Era many people consciously saw these kinds of stereotypes *as stereotypes,* and not as depictions of reality.....

Agree completely.

...The absolute non-plus-ultra Page Four also needs a mob story, preferably with lots of salty nicknames and some mention of either Thomas E. Dewey or William O'Dwyer. Better luck tomorrow.

Can't believe I forgot about the mob - my bad. Yes, "Page Four" needs a mob story and, heck, a plump blonde bank-robber doesn't hurt either. ("I was going through a phase; the heist planing was stressful; get off my back already.")

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of my encounters this summer was with Clara Bow's Rolls Royce, which is housed at the local museum where we had our temporary Drive In Movie setup. I asked them if they found anything under the back seat when they first got it, and I guess they'd heard that joke before.

I don't know what's going to happen next in "Smilin' Jack," but I do hope that Joy there has plenty of hairpins in her forward roll, because otherwise she'll end up blinded when she can least afford it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Headlines from Oct. 18th...



This meat ad is very funny to me ( as a Vegan/Vegetarian) given what is now known about meat theses days.
I get my proteins from beans, veggies ( green beans, peas, spinach) peanut butter, and tree nuts. These are
pretty much the staples I have in my kitchen. And I type all the time at my job too, LOL. Oh, and I can pretty much veganize the menu listed too.

Many in that generation were sold on meat and thought a meal was only a meal if it had meat. Other than a hamburger once or twice a year, I don't eat red meat, but I do eat chicken. That said, if we eventually turn into the foods we eat the most in life, I'm going to look like a cross between a jar of peanut butter, a slice of pizza and chocolate.

I love this aviatrix, she's gonna do what has to be done - good on her. Do you know her comic strip name?

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's Miss Joy Beaverduck, one of the many rebellious socialites of the prewar comic pages. She's a flight instructor at the airfield run by Jack and Downwind, and is of course very much in love with Jack and his Clark Gable moustache, even though Jack is also fascinated by Miss Dixie Lee, an airline stewardess with whom he was once trapped in a wind tunnel (things like that happen in this strip...). The Joy-Dixie rivalry is the typical calculating brunette vs. innocent blonde dynamic of the time, but it never really gets malicious. And of course Jack, dawg that he is, just laps it all up.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

Missed one more news worthy article.

 

[Haversack]

I also have found no reference to Göring personally piloting an aircraft over London on September 15th, 1940. This day was the turning point in the Battle of Britain, (now commemorated as Battle of Britain Day), and is documented quite heavily in online sources. That the newspaper story mentioned that the aircraft was a Junkers does lend credibility as the Ju-88 was a new fast bomber that just reach full operation in August 1940. (I doubt a Ju-52 or Ju-87 would have been used). Also, that Hitler cancelled the invasion of Britain on September 17th would suggest that some significant data that tipped the balance had been gathered. I know that Göring had been a skilled pilot earlier in life. Whether he still flew in 1940 is questionable. Probably the best source to answer this question would be biography of Göring.

 

[Fading Fast]

Uh-huh.

It really is amazing the amount of soft porn that was in comic strips in the '30s and '40s.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm glad we didn't see Dan and Irwin in that situation. But I'm sure Dude Hennick flies that way all the time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Hundreds of thousands of troops are massing along strategic Balkan frontiers, with Turkish, German, and Russian forces moving into position, and Greece is reported to be taking new security measures. It is also reported that passenger rail service has been halted in much of Rumania and Yugoslavia, a step taken under German orders in order to expedite the movement of supplies from Germany into the Balkans. It is noted, however, that such cancellations often precede heavy German troop movements. Reports from the Soviet Union indicate that as many as twenty new Red Army divisions totalling up to 300,000 men have taken positions in Bessarabia, where they face German troops across the Rumanian frontier.

German air raiders, after pounding London for forty-three consecutive nights, reappeared this evening after a mysterious daylight letup. The attacks came with "concentrated ferocity," with the first hour of the raids comparing to the violence of October 15th, ranked the worst raid of the war.

Local draft boards are getting down to their first order of business, that of assigning draft numbers to the borough's registrants. Boards will remain in session with no Sunday break in order to ensure that this work is completed in time for the national lottery that will determine the sequence in which numbers will be called. Meanwhile Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine has issued a statement that there will be no campaign of mass arrests of men who fail to carry their registration cards, but police patrolmen are advised to supply his office with the names and addresses of any such men encountered. The Commissioner stated, however, that "flagrant violators" of the registration law will be "dealt with" by the U. S. Attorney's office.

The factory foreman charged with shooting a striking union member in the back after a stench bomb was thrown thru his window has been released on $500 bail. Fifty-year-old Charles Kessler, a foreman at the Leviton Manufacturing Company plant in Greenpoint faces a felonious assault charge in the shooting of 40-year-old Raymond Kirchner, who remains under treatement at Jamacia Hospital with a shotgun wound to the back.

New York City received its first snow of the season last night, as a light and fluffy flurry accompanied record cold temperatures. The snow was just a dusting in Downtown Brooklyn, but came down heavier in Flatbush. Temperatures overnight dropped to a low of 30.4 degrees, as sub-freezing temperatures prevailed all along the East Coast.

Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie will make two further appearances in Brooklyn in an effort to cut into the strong borough support for President Roosevelt's re-election. Mr. Willkie will appear next Saturday night at Brooklyn Technical High School, DeKalb Avenue at Ft. Greene Place, and at Dewey Junior High School, 40th Street and 4th Avenue. Mrs. Willkie will also appear as a guest at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday night, during a speech on behalf of the Willkie campaign by former Governor Alfred E. Smith.

(A two-reel comedy just waiting to happen.)

The old tradition of hazing has been revived at Hunter College as a way of building school spirit among incoming freshmen. As of last Monday, first-year students are required to wear distinctive lavender hair ribbons and large buttons reading "FRESHIE," are required to call all upperclasswomen "Ma'am," and to maintain at all times "a humble and obedient air." The hazing will continue thru the end of this week, after which a formal "liberation ceremony" will congratulate the new class on its "bravery."

Mark S. Reardon III writes in to say that as a lifelong Democrat he believes that the tradition against the third term proceeds from a higher law than even that of the Constitution -- a moral law "we imbibe with our mother's milk." Mr. Reardon advises that he and his friends from Kentucky -- "dyed in the wool Democrats all" -- are going to vote for Willkie, against "Roosevelt, ruin, and riot."

(If Brooklyn seems in the pages of the Eagle to be just a vast amalgamation of small towns, it's because its days as such were still, in 1940, a living memory.)

Notre Dame crushed Carnegie Tech 61-0 in the rowdiest game of the week in college football. Fordham surged to a 24-12 win over Pitt in the midst of a Pittsburgh snowstorm. Columbia pulled out a 19-13 win over Columbia, and NYU fell to Holy Cross, 13-7.

The Football Dodgers face their first real test of the season at Wrigley Field this afternoon as they face the fearsome Chicago Bears. A win will prove the Football Flock has a real chance at winning the National Football League's Eastern Division title, and even a close defeat will keep those hopes alive. But a rout at the hands of the Bears will send Jock Sutherland's boys back to Brooklyn with the cry of "Wait Till Next Year" echoing in their ears.

(Professional soccer has been a well-established sport in Brooklyn since the 1920s, but there are no, and have never been, any "Soccer Dodgers." I ask you.)

Old Timer Mrs. Bertha Pringle Vass of Sterling Place remembers growing up in Greenpoint, where she fell in "puppy love" with little Eddie Vass back in 1875. And he's still her husband today.

(How singles lived.)

On the front of Trend this week, does he really need to be such an ickie? Swing it, Sergei -- you might feel better.

The new "Negro musical 'Cabin In The Sky'" opens next Friday at the Martin Beck Theatre, starring Ethel Waters, internationally known blues singer who will for the first time dance -- under the direction of master choreographer George Balanchine. Miss Waters was revealed in "Mother's Daughters" to be an actress of unsuspected dramatic power, and will portray in the new show "a religious girl with aspirations to the sublime, yet insanely attached to her ne'er-do-well hell-raiser of a husband." Appearing with Miss Waters in the play will be Todd Duncan, Rex Ingram, Katherine Dunham, Dooley Wilson, and J. Rosamund Johnson.

Jack Benny fans will receive a double dose of their favorite tonight, first on his regular WEAF program at 7pm, and then at 7:30 pm on WABC, the gelatin jester will headline a variety bill on the Screen Guild program, alongside Claudette Colbert, Robert Benchley, Basil Rathbone, Ernst Lubistch, and Edward Arnold.

(Get your money's worth!)

(The ASPCA really wants to talk to Mr. Ryder about his horses.)

(I didn't know how much I wanted to see Henry Ford riding a bicycle until I saw it. And that's Margaret Lindsay, queen of the B pictures, who eats all-day suckers to keep her throat and voice in shape. In case you were wondering.)

(Arch-manipulatrix Mary keeps Bill just where she wants him. Well played. And THAT'S TELLING HIM IRWIN!)

(Panel Six -- ever seen a denture-wearing troll dog? Now you have.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"The lissome litigant?" Gag.

(That's even less than it costs in the Sears catalog.)

(What about the kid who sneaks into the vestry before the service and helps herself to as many of the little glasses of grape juice as she can drink? Oh wait, that was me.)

"Why, it's famous 'nance' comedian Johnny Arthur!"

Yeah, Dude, you better drink your Dari-Rich. Looks like you're gonna need it.

Today's episode is brought to you by powdered soap. Coincidence?

Yahhhh, my mother would clean out the whole lot of 'em.

Three Awful-Awfuls vs. 69 cents for a mail order sex manual. Lilacs needs to go home and run the numbers.

Either this was based on an actual real-life incident, or Mr. King needs to lay off the fried cheese before bed.

"Don't worry boys -- it's only me, famous cave-exploring radio announcer Ben Grauer!"

 

[Fading Fast]

... View attachment 272080 (Professional soccer has been a well-established sport in Brooklyn since the 1920s, but there are no, and have never been, any "Soccer Dodgers." I ask you.)...

Dear God, let's be thankful for small favors.

... (How singles lived.)...

I was pleasantly surprised at how few mentioned religion. And showing how times had changed, even by the early '80s, my college had coed dorm floors, which honestly, accomplished one thing, it increased the amount of sex college student had as it reduced inhibition and created no end of opportunities.

...Jack Benny fans will receive a double dose of their favorite tonight, first on his regular WEAF program at 7pm, and then at 7:30 pm on WABC, the gelatin jester will headline a variety bill on the Screen Guild program, alongside Claudette Colbert, Robert Benchley, Basil Rathbone, Ernst Lubistch, and Edward Arnold....

That's a heck of a cast.

... (I didn't know how much I wanted to see Henry Ford riding a bicycle until I saw it. And that's Margaret Lindsay, queen of the B pictures, who eats all-day suckers to keep her throat and voice in shape. In case you were wondering.)...

Margaret Lindsay is one of my favorite GE lessor-known stars. Her voice alone - which she clearly takes care of (thanks for the color Lizzie as, on my screen, her section was too dark to read) - is a joy, plus she's quietly beautiful and quite talented. My guess, had the Hollywood good-fortune wheel turned a bit more in her direction, she'd have been a major star.

...
"The lissome litigant?" Gag....

Holy Cow, the father marrying the son's ex-wife and then shooting the son gives even the Rolling Stones' bassist's son marrying his father's former wife's mother (yup, he married his former stepmom's mother) move a run for the money. And this is 1940, not the 1970s, and these are "regular" people, not rock stars. And even the rock stars didn't kill anyone over it.

... Yeah, Dude, you better drink your Dari-Rich. Looks like you're gonna need it....

Chopstick Joe has yet to meet a metaphor he doesn't like.

And it can't be long now until Pat and his gaggle of misfits shows up.

It's really good April ended up in the hospital as this would have been way too much for her. The Dragon Lady might have shot her by now anyway on principal alone for being too innocent and decent.

 

[ChiTownScion]

(What about the kid who sneaks into the vestry before the service and helps herself to as many of the little glasses of grape juice as she can drink? Oh wait, that was me.)

Good Methodist lass, you. We Catholic school kids always went for the brass ring of sacramental wine... if the padre hadn't grown up engaging in the same shenanigans himself and wasn't savvy enough to keep the stuff under lock and key.

They'd have the stuff in gallon glass jugs, so it was hardly the equivalent of a Chateau Margaux '63 Estate, but when you're 12 years old, your palate isn't particular.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The sight of Chops "trucking" in panel six is terrifying. I hope he doesn't try to grab the DL and do some aerials.