The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"Maybe she could arrange to do so within the next 24 hours." The management at the Pierre has no sense of humor.

Joe, of course, is John Garfield. Sally -- well, put glasses on Patsy Kelly and you'd have a pretty good match. Alice? I wonder if Winnie Lightner could be coaxed out of retirement. But what about the rest of our friends.....?

"I'll take that bag. For evidence, of course." -- Chief Brandon.

One of the most wonderful things about Frank King's work is how subtly he ages his characters as we go along. Judy is clearly older than she was a year ago, but you can't really put a finger on how he's changed the way he draws her. It just *is.*

"Back to Normalcy..."

Who needs social media when you've got a party line?

"See? Everything's under control." -- H. Gray.

How can anyone so smart be soooooooooo dumb?

Meanwhile, in the back room of the drugstore...

Honestly, this is the first thing anyone should do upon entering this house.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And also....

Over to you, Mr. Commissioner...

 

[Fading Fast]

On a rattling Army bus bound for New Jersey, Joe slides down the window and fires a black jet of tobacco juice into the Long Island sunset...

When he started this awful habit, we knew some day Sally would have to face it. Had Joe come out fine, I can see her putting her foot down with a firm "no!"(and we know how Sally can be). But now she has to weigh how much her injured husband can take, so un-Sally like, she's going to have to be measured. This should be interesting.

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Hey, maybe Vitamin Flintheart will break a bottle over his head.

Plus, "a ticket to South America —" that's not at all how parole works.

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This town could really use a leash law.

Dear Lord, the dad's not being a jerk; it's so out of character. I guess they can't have him not help capture an escaped Nazi.

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"Maybe she could arrange to do so within the next 24 hours." The management at the Pierre has no sense of humor.

And then there are the people, like Joe Petrauskas, who actually fought in the real war and not by switching luxury hotel rooms.

Re Rommel: Unless the allied planes were strafing with cyanide capsules, Rommel's death here is not being accurately reported. He took a cyanide capsule under threat from the Nazis to do so to preserve his reputation and his family's position after his death. Otherwise, it was to be a trial followed by death (makes the term "trial" here questionable) and disgrace for his family.

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Joe, of course, is John Garfield. Sally -- well, put glasses on Patsy Kelly and you'd have a pretty good match. Alice? I wonder if Winnie Lightner could be coaxed out of retirement. But what about the rest of our friends.....?

I always pictured Alice looking like Wynne Gibson.

As to Pat Kane, I see her Janet Blair, but raise her a Jane Bryan:

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Shawt?" ponders Sally. "By who? I hope t' Russians gawt 'im. I hope t'lass t'ing t' sonuvab**** seen was some kid from Stalingrad lookin'im dead'inna eye an' grinnin'. 'Dosvidaniya!'" She pauses, sensing the disapproving glare of a World-Telegram reader across the aisle. "Watta YOU lookin' at," she growls. "G'wan readja funny papehs. Anyways," she continues, turning to Alice, who has been gazing fixedly out the train window, "what I was sayin' befoeh. I been t'inkin'about what t'at Docteh Kuppel was sayin', y'know? 'Bout what happen'ta Joe. T'at guy t'at shoved 'im out'a t'way an' got kilt. Joe won' tawk about 'im, but I'm gonna find out about 'im myself." "Why?" queries Alice. She exhales, and plunges in. "Look, Sal -- maybe t'bes' t'ing is to jus' leave it 'lone. Joe'll tawk when 'e's ready. Let 'im come home, get set'ld, get useta t'ings again, an' don' go stirrin' t'ings up." "I ain't tawkin' 'bout stirrin' t'ings up," protests Sally. "It's -- look, Joe's comin' home. T'is ot'eh guy ain't. I wanna know who he was, if he's gawt any fam'ly. An' I wanna write to 'em. Pay respecks. T'at docteh gimme a name -- Cawrpr'l Claude Ellin'boe. An' says he come from down Sout' some place." "T'at narrows it down," sighs Alice. "Why you arways gotta be so negative?" frowns Sally. "Look, you eveh heah what some people say? Ev'rybody in Americeh got at least one relative lives in Brooklyn, right? So what if I look up inna phone book, right? Fin' evr'y Ellin'boe in Brooklyn. Give'm a cawl. Ask a few questions. You know, detective woik. We'll go oveh t' Schreibstein's t'night n' get stawrted." "Ah," exhales Alice. "Bring nickels," Sally adds. "Yeh," sighs Alice....)

(The Ringling Bros. curse is real. First the poisoned elephants, then the fire, now this...)

(Looking for suggestions?)

("Didn't I use that line on you in 1917?")

(*Ahem* "Showboat Thomas." *Ahem.*)

(You might be able to dance, but your merch is really boring. At least put a picture on the t-shirt.)

(Just in case, Lyric, here's some brochures on hotels in Reno...)

(I mean, show business is really like this.)

("Who cares? Hey, look, more giant underpants!")

(Well, at least he didn't get the vest.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...


TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK....

"'The lights awoke them both,' she added, a bit contemptuously."

Nina really should try to get a patent.

"An' someday I'll be secretary of th' treasury, unless Morgenthau's still there."


Don't worry, folks, all of this is just an elaborate role-play.

IS THAT WHERE YOU KEEP THE COOKIES? HEY, WHERE'S MY COOKIE?

We've missed you, Mama.

And that's why you always build the schoolhouse on a hill.

Sometimes Plushie just can't hold it in.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Why?" queries Alice. She exhales, and plunges in. "Look, Sal -- maybe t'bes' t'ing is to jus' leave it 'lone. Joe'll tawk when 'e's ready. Let 'im come home, get set'ld, get useta t'ings again, an' don' go stirrin' t'ings up."

I'm with Alice. There will be time when Joe's back and hopefully on the mend to express sympathy to the other family.

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"'The lights awoke them both,' she added, a bit contemptuously."

They each claim to have witnesses to his behavior - innocently listening to the war news or dancing in the sheets with the lights out - they should each produce their witnesses to back up their stories.

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Nina really should try to get a patent.

I get that talking about it in the newspaper is a big deal, but how could this be news to 1945 America or to any generation anywhere in the world, ever? Beyond everything else, America still had a lot of farmers and many who weren't, were sons and daughters of farmers.

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I'm okay with there being no "Terry and the Pirates" today if the reason is that Caniff can't show us what Terry and Hu Shee are doing right now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was just dumbfounded, that's all. What a plank.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Yeh," sighs Sally, gazing up at a flake of paint about to drop from Dr. Levine's ceiling. "I was inta Schreibstein's when it come oveh t' radio, me'n Alice. Awl hell broke loose. People runnin' out'na street, beat'n awn cawr hawrns, yellin' up at people stickin'eh heads outa windehs. We run home, y'know, an' Krause -- t'at's Alice's husban', he was out'na midl'a Sixty-T'oid Street blownin' awna bugle an'neh kid, Willie, he's beatin' time onna fryin' pan. C'n ya tawp t'at? An' we get inside, an' Misteh an' Miss's Ginsboig, t'eh'r'inneh pawrleh, sittn' by t'radio cryin'. We was awl broke up. An'nen it comes oveh t'at it's awl a fake. I ask ya!" "It won't be long, though," assures Dr. Levine. "Days, maybe. Maybe hours." "I hope so," sighs Sally. "I jus' wan'it awl t'be oveh an' have Joe home again an' ev'ryt'ing go back like it useteh be." "But what if it doesn't?" challenges Dr. Levine. "I really want you to think about that. These last few years have changed a lot of things for a lot of people. And you need to be prepared for what that means for you." "Joe's gonna be fine," denies Sally. "Nut''n wrawng wit' him a good night's sleep an' a trip t' Ebbets Feel won' cueh." "Do you really believe that?" insists Dr. Levine. "You know, in the last war, they called it 'shell shock.'" "Yeah," concedes Sally, "but Joe was a cook. He wasn' no infantry, he neveh was in no trench. He gawt shawt inna back of a truck. By accident." "So what you're saying is," rejoinds Dr. Levine, sharpening the point, "nobody shoots at a cook." Sally falls completely silent as this thrust sinks in. "Y'know, I foun' out sump'n las' night," she finally resumes. "Can ya b'lieve t'eh ain' a single poisson inna Brooklyn phone book named 'Ellin'boe.' T'ree million people in Brooklyn, an' notta a single Ellin'boe. C'n ya beat t'at?")

(Summary justice.)

(Mungo? Goody Rosen? It's like 1939 never ended. Hey, whatta ya hear from Hot Potato Hamlin?)

("Damn, I broke my arm too!")

(Get out while you can, rabbit, before show business breaks your heart...)


(KIDS TODAY)

(Lady Blessington's name was Marguerite Gardiner and she dumped that loser after three months. I think it's important to remember that.)

(And Alice puts down the paper, and wonders if Mickey is even still alive...)

(I believe the overall cost was considerably higher, and now the bill's come due...)

("Meet my son. You may have read about him. On -- uh -- Page Four.")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"Wolf!" screams Gloria, flinging the paper in her husband's face. "Casanova! You -- you -- long-haired Svengali!" "I'm not the ONLY Leopold!" shouts Mr. Stokowski. "I'm NOT!"

"She ain't gawt a chance," sniffs Bink Scanlan.

Yes, but remember -- time wounds all heels.

In a few years, a few very short years, Walt and Phyllis will have their hands full.

"We all have our secrets." JUST WHAT ARE YOU HINTING AT MR. GRAY?

I love "Sad Walrus Plushie," I really do.

"Yeah, but remember what comic strip we're in!"

And this is why you can't run a candy store without a back room.

"Ooooooh! A live one!!!" -- Mr. Tort.

A white-woman prisoner? Let's see, who haven't we seen in a while? Normandie? Taffy Tucker? Rouge? April Kane?

 

[LizzieMaine]

And finally...


"Hey Sarge," queries a stubble-faced corporal as the 14th Armored Division rumbles thru Bavaria. "What's this town w're comin' up on again?" "Moosboig," replies First Sergeant Solomon J. Pincus of Brooklyn USA. "Ain't that where that POW camp is?" replies the corporal. "Stalag 7," replies Solly. "I heard it's a big one," nods the Corporal. "Not f' lawng," declares Solly, his face grim and his mouth a hard line...

 

[Fading Fast]

"So what you're saying is," rejoinds Dr. Levine, sharpening the point, "nobody shoots at a cook."

Kudos, Lizzie. Whether you set that up for a long time, or saw the opportunity on the fly and took it, that is one well-played piece of writing.

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Lady Blessington's name was Marguerite Gardiner and she dumped that loser after three months. I think it's important to remember that.

Indeed it is. And "loser" is too kind a word.

I also got a real chuckle out of this:

"Ann Bonney...got her start by killing a surly servant girl with a case knife."

That's one way to deal with the "help problem."

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"We all have our secrets." JUST WHAT ARE YOU HINTING AT MR. GRAY?

That line sure did stand out. Gray put it there for some reason. Maybe we'll learn why in future episodes.

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A white-woman prisoner? Let's see, who haven't we seen in a while? Normandie? Taffy Tucker? Rouge? April Kane?

Or Burma?

We sure as heck know it ain't the Dragon Lady.