The Era -- Day By Day

Hmph. How you talk. Priscilla Lane is much too pure for any such Park Avenue monkeyshines. Rosemary, maybe, but not Pricsilla.

Meanwhile, I have to admit I'm feeling rather sorry for Miss Cheery Blaze right now. Sure, Pat is doing what he thinks he has to do to escape from an untenable situation, but the achingly sad way Miss Blaze reacts to even the slightest, even feigned kindness makes me think that what he's about to do to her is rather cruel. I hope however this turns out that Mr. Ryan is at some point called to account for that.

LizzieMaine said:

Hmph. How you talk. Priscilla Lane is much too pure for any such Park Avenue monkeyshines. Rosemary, maybe, but not Pricsilla.

Meanwhile, I have to admit I'm feeling rather sorry for Miss Cheery Blaze right now. Sure, Pat is doing what he thinks he has to do to escape from an untenable situation, but the achingly sad way Miss Blaze reacts to even the slightest, even feigned kindness makes me think that what he's about to do to her is rather cruel. I hope however this turns out that Mr. Ryan is at some point called to account for that.

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But it's not as if Miss Cheery Blaze is an innocent soul in this - she was quite willing to pro-actively hand April over to Singh-Singh, which would've solved two problems for her: satisfied Singh-Singh and given her a clear path to Pat. She's playing the game to win.

And my apologies to Priscilla Lane - no soil must touch the hem of her garment.

Pope Pius XII has told President Roosevelt that the possibilities for peace are slight due to "stubborn obstacles" that are "difficult to surmount." In a letter received by the White House this week, the pontiff called upon "the friends of peace" to visualize the seriousness of these obstacles, and the improbability of the cessation of war, so long as the present state of the opposing forces remains unchanged. The letter, written by the Pope on December 23rd in response to the President's appointment of an official United States representative to the Vatican, was delivered by the Apostolic delegate in Washington.

Senator William E. Borah will be honored on Monday by a state funeral in the Senate Chamber where he served for thirty-three years. The Idaho Republican, who was the longest-serving member of the Senate, died in Washington last night. Following the service scheduled for noon on Monday, the Senator's body will be placed aboard a train that will carry it to his home in Boise for burial.

The Capitol flag is at half-mast today in honor of Borah, "lion of the Senate," as both political friends and foes lauded him for his long record of public service and statesmanship. President Roosevelt issued a statement calling attention to the Senator's "superb courage." Senator Key Pittman, a frequent political opponent, praised Borah as a man who was never discourteous, intolerant, or even harsh, even in the face of intense fights. Mayor LaGuardia called the Senator "a sincere leader in the cause of peace." Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau called Borah "a great American and an outstanding liberal." In China, government officials noted that, although Borah "was not well informed on some aspects of Far Eastern affairs, he was an earnest seeker of justice." And from Germany comes a statement from the Nazi government that Borah's viewpoint "had frequently agreed with that of Germany."

Representatives of the truck drivers' union and city coal companies are in conference again today at City Hall, negotiating what is hoped will be an end to the coal delivery strike against the Central Coal Company and the sympathy lockouts imposed by other coal firms against the drivers. Representatives of Local 533 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Fuel Merchants Association and the Coal Merchants Association spent most of yesterday negotiating under the mediation of Mayor LaGuardia, and returned to City Hall to continue the discussions this morning. There is a late report that the coal dealers have submitted a proposal for settlement to the union, but no reply has yet been offered.

Two more of the four Brooklyn boys who escaped from the Queen County Jail on Wednesday were recaptured today at a lodging house on Fulton Street. 17 year old Michael Tribote and 19 year old Peter Sweeney are back in custody after reportedly stealing a car, robbing a drug store, and enjoying a meal at an Italian restaurant to celebrate their escape.

A young woman who leaped to her death from an IRT elevated platform at Smith and 9th Streets has been identfied as Miss Regina Scher, a 30-year-old Czecho-Slovakian war refugee. Miss Scher had been living on 12th Avenue for the past five months since arriving in this country under the sponsorship of her cousin, who told police she had recently been very depressed.

The vice-president of the Sterling-Lefferts Civic Association has issued a challenge to Mayor LaGuardia, daring him to walk any residential street in Flatbush and find a police patrolman. E. J. H. Theiman says his home at 33 Lefferts Avenue was looted by burglars for the second time in four years in December, and he decided to write the Mayor after a neighbor had a similar experience last week. Theiman says he was told by a representative of the Mayor that his neighborhood receives the same police protection as any other part of the city, but he insists that he has lived on Lefferts Avenue for thirteen years, and has never once seen a patrolman walking a beat.

Communist Party secretary Earl Browder may take the stand in his own defense on Monday when his trial on Federal passport charges resumes in Manhattan. The prosecution rested on Friday after a witness testified he had seen Browder in Moscow on two occasions when he had no passport, and after presenting handwriting evidence to support the charge that Browder had obtained passports during this period under assumed names.

Former city magistrate Leo Healy has agreed to defend ten of the seventeen accused Christian Front conspirators charged with mounting a seditious plot against the Government, including accused ringleader John F. Cassidy. Healy declared that an examination of the evidence led him to conclude that there is "absolutely no basis" for the charge against the defendants.

A civic movement to bring the 1944 Olympic Games to Marine Park is underway, with the League For The Improvement of Marine Park presenting a petition to Parks Commissioner Robert Moses calling on the city to take steps to bring the games to Brooklyn. The petition notes that with the 1940 Games having been "eliminated" by the war, world attention will focus on the 1944 Olympics, and interest will be so great that a site as large as Marine Park will be required.


The good folks at Renken's stay out of the Grade A/Grade B fracas.

Helen Worth says there is no good justification for sending anonymous letters to people, even if meant for a constructive purpose. So don't even think about sending your neighbors upstairs those comic valentines you've been saving.

A. J. McLean writes to the Eagle to defend John F. Cassidy and the Christian Front, declaring that while he doesn't agree with the "misguided zeal" that led to the Front's campaigning in Jewish neighborhoods, he also criticizes the residents of those neighborhoods for being so disorderly when the Front arrived. (Go to Brownsville and try that stuff, Mr. McLean, and see what kind of reception you get. Yeah, I didn't think so.)

Gossip columnist Clifford Evans was an odd choice to witness the electrocution of Sidney Markman this week, and he has a rather sobering description of what he saw.



Yankee General Manager Ed Barrow will be the guest of honor at this year's annual dinner of the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

The New York Giants will stick another pin in the fabled Dodger-Giant rivalry with word received that the Giants expect to make a bid on free-agent Benny McCoy. News that the Polo Grounders are interested in the recently-uncaged Tiger comes on the heels of a well-publicized campaign by Dodgers president Larry MacPhail to bring the slugger to Brooklyn. MacPhail is said to be not pleased to learn that Giant manager Bill Terry spoke to McCoy by telephone yesterday, offering to top any offer by any other club by $1000.

A gala broadcast on behalf of the March of Dimes from Hollywood goes on the air at 11pm over WABC, WEAF, WMCA, and WHN. WOR will join the broadcast at 11:15. Eddie Cantor will serve as master of ceremonies, with appearances by Jack Benny, Connie Boswell, Bob Hope, Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby, Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Fannie Brice, Bob Burns, and Orson Welles -- among others.

And if you don't pick up on the "J. Hartford Oakdale can kiss my toches" undertone in Jo's running commentary here, her posture in the fourth panel pretty much seals it.

"Is that a cigar in your hand, Mr. Lupeen, or are you just glad to see me?"


When you work for George Arliss, there is only one rule. Don't make George Arliss angry.


(And Joe says to Sally, "Hey, maybe we should go to this after all." And Sally replies, "You know we ain't Republicans. You was on the WPA." And Joe replies, "Hey, they only gimme a shovel. The Republicans got chop suey.")

And in the Daily News...


Ever wonder "What ever became of Mae Murray?" Now you know.

So, Bim -- how did you ever get to be a billionaire again?

"Harpe, Scarpe, and Titleman." Best law-firm name ever.

Tracy's gonna swing his arm around there and knock that record right on the floor. And he'll look the Chief right in the eye and say "Pat did it."

Jeez, Pat. If your master plan is built around the-a-tah, the least you could do is get off book before the performance.


That ticking sound you hear is not coming from the toaster. It is the ticking time bomb inside Harold's mind. Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick...

Besides, who needs a cheap racketeer when you've got Uncle Willie?

LizzieMaine said:

...The vice-president of the Sterling-Lefferts Civic Association has issued a challenge to Mayor LaGuardia, daring him to walk any residential street in Flatbush and find a police patrolman. E. J. H. Theiman says his home at 33 Lefferts Avenue was looted by burglars for the second time in four years in December, and he decided to write the Mayor after a neighbor had a similar experience last week. Theiman says he was told by a representative of the Mayor that his neighborhood receives the same police protection as any other part of the city, but he insists that he has lived on Lefferts Avenue for thirteen years, and has never once seen a patrolman walking a beat....

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I would not take the other side of that bet.

LizzieMaine said:

...
The good folks at Renken's stay out of the Grade A/Grade B fracas....

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Gotta believe milk is like gasoline with the only real difference being the marketing.

LizzieMaine said:

... And if you don't pick up on the "J. Hartford Oakdale can kiss my toches" undertone in Jo's running commentary here, her posture in the fourth panel pretty much seals it....

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And in that same fourth panel, she makes the point I've been arguing - who prances around in a uniform on a "secret" mission.

LizzieMaine said:

... "Is that a cigar in your hand, Mr. Lupeen, or are you just glad to see me?"...

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I'm going out a limb here, Mr. Lupeen is not going to keep Leona's secret despite what he says and despite the usually high-level of integrity and professionalism of 1940s club owners.

LizzieMaine said:

...[
(And Joe says to Sally, "Hey, maybe we should go to this after all." And Sally replies, "You know we ain't Republicans. You was on the WPA." And Joe replies, "Hey, they only gimme a shovel. The Republicans got chop suey.")

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LizzieMaine said:

... View attachment 207263
Ever wonder "What ever became of Mae Murray?" Now you know....

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Whole lot of royalty bouncing around in those days. Also, that's not your typical Haaaaavard blue-blood lawyer response - hey, throw something at me will ya, I'll show ya...

LizzieMaine said:

... View attachment 207264 So, Bim -- how did you ever get to be a billionaire again?....

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Not familiar with the strip, but it's either inherited or he all but accidentally discovered oil on his dirt farm (it happened back then).

LizzieMaine said:

... View attachment 207267 Jeez, Pat. If your master plan is built around the-a-tah, the least you could do is get off book before the performance....

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Say what you will, I really want to see what happens. I think he's doing to Miss Cheery Blaze what she wanted to do to April, but maybe Pat's too good for that. We'll soon see.

Jo is the only Bungle with half a brain, and how she ever ended up with a potato-nosed nitwit like George is probably a very sad story, one they've never gone into. Probably a case of "one night of passion and a lifetime of regret."

Yes indeed, Leona will soon find there are a lot of very nice people in show business, and then there's Sam here.

If I remember my Gump lore, Uncle Bim made his fortune as a rancher in Australia many years ago, and came to America in the early 20s to show those Wall Street Wallabies how it's done. Not sure how well outback ranching translates to the intricacies of early 20th Century American finance capitalism, but that's his story and he sticks to it. He is not, however, as we have seen, all that bright, and he often finds himself taken advantage of by such as Mr. Ferrett here.

Bim is also sort of an Uncle Scrooge figure, in that he keeps a huge vault stuffed with cash packed in bags marked "$", with stacks of loose coins spilled all around, and is frequently seen to extract thick bundles of high-denomination notes from a trunk or a bureau, the better to hand them to Andy for his latest harebrained scheme. It's just an awful good thing that Uncle Bim does not live in Flatbush.

Coal deliveries are expected to resume tomorrow following a meeting today to adopt an agreement reached between delivery drivers and the coal dealers' associations ending a strike against the Central Coal Company and sympathy lockouts of drivers by other members of the dealers' associations. The agreement, negotiated thru the mediation of Mayor LaGuardia, will bring drivers a 75-cent-per-day, or $4.50 per week pay increase for the terms of the three year contract. During yesterday's conference at City Hall, the Mayor had the heat shut off to the meeting room so that negotiating parties would get a taste of the discomfort experienced by city residents unless coal deliveries resumed.

Europe's neutral nations were urged in a sharp-tongued broadcast speech by Winston Churchill to join with the Allies now in the war against Nazi Germany, or be consumed by "the flames of conflict." In a broadcast also heard in the United States, the First Lord of the Admiralty declared there is no chance for an early end to the conflict "without united action."

Fleets of Soviet bombers roared over southern Finland yesterday in raids extending as far as the strategically-vital port of Turku. No bombs fell on the Finnish capital of Helsinki, although four air raid warnings sounded over the course of the day.
Meanwhile, reports arriving in Helsinki from Esthonian sources stated that "thousands of Russians" had frozen to death in the Karellian zone. It is also reported that Swedish volunteers fighting alongside the Finnish forces brought down six Soviet planes.

The widow of naval hero Lt. Mons Monssen has declined an invitation to preside over the christening of a ship named after her husband because she cannot afford to make the trip to Puget Sound for the ceremony. Mrs. Sadie Monssen, who lives in a four-room apartment at 364 Rutland Road with her daughter after being evicted from the home she had owned for twenty years, was told that the Navy does not pay traveling expenses for such events, and has no appropriation to pay the costs. Mrs. Monssen was evicted from her home just before Christmas. She lives on a $30 a month pension and her daughter's pay as a typist for the Department of Public Works. Her husband, who died in 1930, earned the Medal of Honor in 1904 for heroism while battling a magazine fire aboard the USS Missouri.

The last of four youths who escaped last week from the Queens County Jail is back in custody. Nineteen year old Joseph Bucci was arrested last night at a furnished room on Clinton Street. Limping from a leg sprained when he jumped over the jail wall, Bucci was taken without resistance.

Republican presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey told members of the Women's National Republican Club that it was a mistake for the United States to extend diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union in 1933. The Manhattan District Attorney, campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination, declared also that he agrees with most Americans that no American should be sent to die on European battlefields.

The body of an undentified man, about age 40, was found trussed up with clothesline at the side of the Bronx River Road in Yonkers early today. Examination of the body at Yonkers General Hospital suggests the victim may have been beaten over the head with a blunt instrument or shot to death. The dead man is described as about five feet six inches in height, weighing 140 pounds, and evidentily of Nordic stock. The only identification found on the body was a small photograph of a woman with a baby.

The former city magistrate defending ten of the seventeen Christian Front members accused in a terror plot against the Government calls the charges "silly." Leo Healy, who will represent the ten accused consipirators, including Brooklyn Christian Front head John F. Cassidy, declares that all "these boys" wanted to do is protect the Government from Communists. "It's like arresting a Boy Scout with a pocket knife and accusing him of attempting to cut President Roosevelt's throat." Mr. Healy accused investigators of being off-base in their case against the alleged conspirators, from whom was seized a quantity of guns, ammunition, bomb-making materials, and partially-completed bombs. "I can have a bomb in my house," Healy stated, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to overthrow the Government." But in speaking of guns and bombs, Mr. Healy was quick to point out that he wasn't conceding that his clients had any.

Trial will begin in Nassau County Court tomorrow for Alvin Dooley, police patrolman accused in the November 15th murder of Long Beach Mayor Louis F. Edwards. Defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz is expected to build his case around the argument that Dooley was a victim of the politics that dominated the Long Beach Police Department under Edwards' administration.

The Brooklyn Bureau of Charities will distribute one thousand bazookas to borough children -- after volunteers have painted the instruments. The bazookas -- bullfrog-sounding musical devices popularized by comedian Bob Burns -- were donated by a firm that had discontinued their manufacture, and are unpainted. Volunteers will apply a gilt finish to the bazookas and distribute them to underprivileged children next Christmas.


(And Sally knows what she'll get Joe for his birthday.)


(Hey Mr. Dewey, you sure you want this job?)

Major Bowes will pay tribute to Brooklyn next Thursday night when his Original Amateur Hour designates the borough as its "honor city" for the week. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is preparing an appropriate collection of mementoes for the Major to commemorate the event. It is expected that a few Brooklyn residents will perform on the program, and Brooklyn listeners will be invited to telephone in their votes on the various contestants. The program will be heard Thursday night from 9 to 10 pm over WABC.


(She won't be keeping her maiden name.)


"Blushing Violet." Isn't that -- ah -- lavender?

"The Grapes of Wrath" opens in Manhattan at the Tivoli on Wednesday, and screenwriter Nunnally Johnson is said to have worked closely with author John Steinbeck to ensure the screenplay was in accord with the best-selling novel. Johnson says he took a draft of his script to Steinbeck and explained that he did have to remove the profanity, but has tried to retain the force and flavor of the dialogue. And he says Steinbeck replied "Well I'll be a doggoned son-of-a-gun."

With less than a month to go before the start of Spring Training, the three local ball clubs have yet to sign the majority of their players to 1940 contracts. Of major figures on the local baseball scene, only Giant hurler Carl Hubbell is known to have inked a pact for the new season. Dodger president Larry MacPhail has been traveling the country in recent weeks and is believed to have met with a number of recalcitrant Dodgers in the South and Midwest, but no announcements of contract terms have been made, and pitcher Whit Wyatt is known to be kicking about the $9000 offer put before him. It is known that none of the Dodger California contingent -- including Dolph Camilli, Harry Lavagetto, and Pete Coscarart -- have signed for the new season.

An experimental game between the basketball Dodgers and the Jamacia Hebrews will be played without backboards. The solid surface behind the goal ring will be replaced with netting, with the ball in play if it hits any portion of the net. The idea is to provide "continuous action."

An enormous new racetrack with seating for 50,000 is in the works for Flushing, if the plans of James O'Day, well-known sportsman, come to pass. The new track, within easy reach of any part of the city by subway, will be open by August, and O'Day says the land for the project is already under option.

Old-Timer Mary Tomlin Canning remembers old Mr. Humphrey's candy store near the old Number 10 school and how he'd cry out "Lemonade made in the shade by this old maid!," and would point to his wife.

"The Ghost of Whisperin' Walls?" Have you looked for a crack in the plaster?

Leona took the first job she could get because she didn't want to babysit these awful children.

I wonder how Kay is doing? Has she starved to death back in the hotel?


Trolling is the only thing that keeps Jo in this marriage.

And in the Daily News...


This Erickson fellow gets around.


Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!


A hushed silence fell over the room, punctured only by Cap'n Blaze's asthmatic wheeze. April wondered how long she should hold up her arms. Feet shuffled nervously. Someone coughed. Pat Ryan rolled his eyes, leaned back on the balls of his feet, and began a tuneless whistle.

How can the plot thicken when it's already this thick?

A thousand years from now, a social historian will stumble across this page, and draw astonishing conclusions about twentieth-century mating rituals.

LizzieMaine said:

...During yesterday's conference at City Hall, the Mayor had the heat shut off to the meeting room so that negotiating parties would get a taste of the discomfort experienced by city residents unless coal deliveries resumed.....

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Nice strategy. And there's this: he turned up the heat by turning off the heat.

LizzieMaine said:

...Europe's neutral nations were urged in a sharp-tongued broadcast speech by Winston Churchill to join with the Allies now in the war against Nazi Germany, or be consumed by "the flames of conflict." In a broadcast also heard in the United States, the First Lord of the Admiralty declared there is no chance for an early end to the conflict "without united action."....

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We all know when Churchill became prime minister, but it seems odd to read articles like this with WWII in motion and Churchill not yet in charge.

LizzieMaine said:

...

(And Sally knows what she'll get Joe for his birthday.)....

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And we have today's entry in the "here's something you don't need that won't work anyway" category.

LizzieMaine said:

...
"Blushing Violet." Isn't that -- ah -- lavender?....

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Now Lizzie. As an aside, in the late '70s, at a career day (or something like that) at high school, an FBI agent came and I remember that, even then (maybe still today, I don't know), you needed to have a law or accounting degree or speak a foreign language to even submit an application to the FBI. And, lo and behold, a Spanish teacher, my senior year, left mid-year when he was accepted to the program. That's it, I'm out of FBI stories.

LizzieMaine said:

... Leona took the first job she could get because she didn't want to babysit these awful children.....

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The Sunday breaks in the storylines are unfortunate.

LizzieMaine said:

... I wonder how Kay is doing? Has she starved to death back in the hotel?...

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Good point. Let's not kid ourselves, Dunn is no Sherlock Holmes nor does the strip expect much of its readers - it spoon-feeds every plot twist.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Trolling is the only thing that keeps Jo in this marriage.

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There's something very true to what you say. The not-nice take on it is that we all know some marriages where one party chose the other just to feel superior.

LizzieMaine said:

...
This Erickson fellow gets around.....

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Still not as big a crime as what our Plaza maid made off with a few days ago.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!...

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Pre-DNA testing, that little baby might have just knocked off the table his/her last chance to know who his/her mother is.

LizzieMaine said:

...
A hushed silence fell over the room, punctured only by Cap'n Blaze's asthmatic wheeze. April wondered how long she should hold up her arms. Feet shuffled nervously. Someone coughed. Pat Ryan rolled his eyes, leaned back on the balls of his feet, and began a tuneless whistle.....

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Pat nearly pulled it off and, heck, Singh-Singh could still try to take Cheery.

LizzieMaine said:

... View attachment 207476 How can the plot thicken when it's already this thick?....

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Good story telling. And this: "seeny-ritas," perfect.

I think most cartoonists in this period were working on something like a six week lead time on dailies and eight to ten weeks on Sundays -- which made it difficult to keep things straight with continuity. Not impossible, as the cases of Tracy, Terry, and Annie show, but not easy.

Some strips ran two seperate continuities -- one for dailies and one for Sunday. "The Gumps" was notable for this -- while the dailies were consumed by Andy's scheming, and Bim's being victimized by schemers, the Sunday page was given over to a whole seperate storyline where Andy's little son Chester roamed the world having wild adventures while on missions for Uncle Bim. Why Bim would assign such tasks to an eight year old boy is another matter entirely, but these stories were very much like the later Uncle Scrooge/Donald Duck comic book adventures in their style and flavor. Here's this week's specimen...

LizzieMaine said:

View attachment 207473
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

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Tracy should call Dr. Kanchalian. He’d make that Dictaphone cylinder playable with little trouble.

The House of Representatives has extended authorization for its Committee on Un-American Activities for another year, even as committee chairman Martin Dies (D-Texas) stands accused of "active association with a prominent collaborator of the Christian Front. Representative Frank Hook (D-Michigan) made the charge against Representative Dies in a statement read into the record, alleging that Dies is a frequent associate of Merwin K. Hart, an "energetic fellow-traveler of the Christian Front," seventeen members of which stand accused in Brooklyn in "a fantastic plot to overthrow the Government." After Hook read into the record instances of meetings where Dies spoke at meetings sponsored by Christian Front representatives, he called Merwin K. Hart a "Park Avenue operator" for the Front, if not an actual member of the organization. Hook stressed in his statement that he is not opposing the work of the Dies Committee itself, but he did criticize the committee for its failure to produce William Dudley Pelley, leader of the fascistic Silver Shirts, who has long been sought for questioning, and suggested that Dies himself has ensured that Pelley will not be found. Citing Dies' method of calling a man guilty "by association" in the headlines, Hook stated that he was deliberately turning that same method against Dies himself, and urged that the House demand to know exactly what the Dies Committee is doing.

Meanwhile, US Attorney General Robert Jackson today assured a full investigation of Christian Front activities in Brooklyn by appointing one of his top investigators to head up the probe. John O. Rogge, chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, will take charge of the investigation in collaboration with US Attorney for New York Harold Kennedy. The appointment comes as The Commonweal, leading Roman Catholic publication, published an editorial denouncing Father Charles E. Coughlin, his "Social Justice" paper, which has been linked to the Front, and the Brooklyn Tablet, local Catholic paper with close ties to the Coughlin movement. The Commonweal editorial called the Tablet the Christian Front's "chief forum," with its columns furnishing a free platform for John F. Cassidy, local Front coordinator and one of the seventeen defendants in the Brooklyn case. Patrick Scalan, managing editor of the Tablet, denied that charge, stating that the paper has published one letter from Cassidy in the past five years, containing criticism of the New York police department.

In Manhattan Federal Court today, Communist Party secretary Earl Browder took charge of his own defense in his trial on charges of passport fraud, delivering his own summation of the case, while offering no testimony of his own and presenting no witnesses. Browder is accused of making false statements on his application to obtain a passport in 1937, and in a two-and-a-half hour summation of his defense, the Communist leader "conferred learnedly" with Judge Alfred C. Coxe on matters of law, and branded the charges against him a matter of "flimsy technicalities," quoted Abraham Lincoln in calling the case "as thin as homeopathic soup," and declared that he responded truthfully in 1937 when he stated that he had no current passport under any name. Prosecutor John T. Cahill responded sarcastically to Browder's "emotional and oratorical defense," and noted that Browder does not contest that he used passports in names not his own on three occasions between 1921 and 1931, and that he failed to declare this on his 1937 passport application. The jury is expected to receive the case by 3:30 this afternoon, and if Browder is convicted he faces a maximum sentence of a $4000 fine and ten years imprisonment.

A Forest Hills family was beaten, robbed, and left gagged and tied to their beds following a $3600 burglary of their home. 32-year-old Joseph Ezratty, his 27-year-old wife Esther, and their 7-year-old daughter Donna were attacked shortly before 6 this morning by two armed men. Ezratty managed to free himself from his bonds after the robbers left and after releasing his wife and daughter, ran into Yellowstone Boulevard until he encountered a milkman who summoned police. The robbers had attempted to flee in Ezratty's car, but abandoned the vehicle after they were unable to back it out of the driveway. Taken in the robbery were $400 in cash, jewelry valued at $2200, and furs worth $1000.

The defense case on behalf of Alvin J. Dooley, Long Beach patrolman charged in the murder of Mayor Louis Edwards, will be based on pleas of insanity and intoxication. Jury selection is underway today in Nassau County Court for the trial of Dooley, who is accused of shooting down Edwards as he emerged from his home on the morning of November 15, 1939.

The second of eleven police officers to be charged with bail bond racketeering by the Amen Office was praised today by supervisors as an honest and trustworthy man. Lieutenant John A. Cronin was praised by First Deputy Police Commissioner John Seery, Deputy Chief Inspector James Sheehy, and Inspector John Reddan as a man of integrity in testimony before Special Deputy Commissioner Jeremiah T. Mahoney, who has reserved decision on the case.



A three-alarm fire in Flatbush last night gutted the historic home of the Sperry Memorial YMCA. The structure, once the home of the Clarkson family, and later the headquarters of the Flatbush Union Club, was a showplace in the community for over a century. Hundreds of spectators gathered in the cold to watch firemen battling the blaze, but were ordered away because of the danger of flaming debris. Only the fact that the building was set back from the street prevented the fire from spreading to adjoining structures.


Oh, the humanity.

Persons contemplating marriage on an income of $30 a week will fail financially unless they have unusual economic skill, are in good health, and are emotionally so well adjusted as to form a team of comrades in meeting the challenge of low income. So warns the Rev. Dr. Oliver Butterfield of the family relations committee of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in Amerca. Dr. Butterfield spoke in the third of a series of pre-marital lectures delivered at the Central Congregational Church.

Alexander Korda's "The Lion Has Wings," now showing at the Globe Theatre, is a propaganda film, says Herbert Cohn, but it's a good one, with exciting and convincing action showing how the Royal Air Force handles its enemies.

At the Patio, it's "Goodbye Mr. Chips" and "Dancing Co-Ed." (Cause and effect?)

The Eagle Editorialist is puzzled and annoyed by a flood of scurrilous and unprintable letters received by the paper this week from supporters of the Christian Front, defending the suspects in the recent arrests and asking why the FBI doesn't go raid Communists. The Eagle is confident that if the Communists had a house full of guns and bombs they'd be raided too -- but in this case, it was the Christian Front who did, and those weapons and bombs are not playthings.

The superintendant of schools in Westbury is defending the slaughter of a pig in front of an assembly of eighth grade and high school students as "a valuable demonstration." The 125-pound pig, named "Fat Stuff," was not a pet, explains Superintendant Jerome Fitzpatrick, and none of the fourth grade students who had fed and helped raise the pig were present when "Fat Stuff" was killed.

The Rangers claimed first place in the National Hockey League last night, defeating the Boston Bruins 4 to 2 at the Garden.

Ginger Rogers and Frederic March star in "Bachelor Mother," tonight on the Lux Radio Theatre, 9pm on WABC.

Poor dumb Peggy, clearly her father's daughter.


Never mind Leona, let's get Sunny signed up with Dolly Raoul! Oh, and Bill -- that pizza is for everybody.

And introducing William Bendix as Scummy Dad.

And in the Daily News...


And when Mabel gets home, what do you bet her pushy mother forces her into a marriage with a creepy man old enough to be her father? That'll teach her to go running off with some rattle-brained hepcat.


Yeah. Let's have wholesome entertainment. Like the comics.

And on top of all that, she's outside right now stripping Bim's car.

I bet Nick Gatt could get things moving. Why not go see him?

That's what happens when you don't back up your media.

Um.

Future U.S. Senator Wilmer Bobble.


Moon has nothing to worry about. Any blows struck will bounce harmlessly off the shoulder pads in that suit.

How reckless is Truck? He speeds around in a convertible with the top down in January. And I bet he didn't even get a flu shot.

LizzieMaine said:

...The robbers had attempted to flee in Ezratty's car, but abandoned the vehicle after they were unable to back it out of the driveway.....

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Huh? Was the driveway blocked - wouldn't they have seen that before they loaded everything into the car?

LizzieMaine said:

...Persons contemplating marriage on an income of $30 a week will fail financially unless they have unusual economic skill, are in good health, and are emotionally so well adjusted as to form a team of comrades in meeting the challenge of low income. So warns the Rev. Dr. Oliver Butterfield of the family relations committee of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in Amerca. Dr. Butterfield spoke in the third of a series of pre-marital lectures delivered at the Central Congregational Church.....

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$30/week in 1940 = ~$550/week in 2020 dollars or $28,600 a year. Very hard for two to get by in NYC on that today.

LizzieMaine said:

...The Eagle Editorialist is puzzled and annoyed by a flood of scurrilous and unprintable letters received by the paper this week from supporters of the Christian Front, defending the suspects in the recent arrests and asking why the FBI doesn't go raid Communists. The Eagle is confident that if the Communists had a house full of guns and bombs they'd be raided too -- but in this case, it was the Christian Front who did, and those weapons and bombs are not playthings.....

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Again, Twitter before Twitter.

LizzieMaine said:

...Ginger Rogers and Frederic March star in "Bachelor Mother," tonight on the Lux Radio Theatre, 9pm on WABC.....

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Watched the movie version with Rogers and David Niven (wonder if they tried and couldn't get him for the radio show) a few months ago - another solid movie from '39 (comments here: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...ovie-you-watched.20830/page-1362#post-2623222)

LizzieMaine said:

... Poor dumb Peggy, clearly her father's daughter.
...

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I've been disappointed in her too, especially since he bounced her at the altar - come on, have some pride and think a little.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Never mind Leona, let's get Sunny signed up with Dolly Raoul! Oh, and Bill -- that pizza is for everybody....

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Leona's a b*tch, but she's got some gumption and kick too.

LizzieMaine said:

... And introducing William Bendix as Scummy Dad.

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Perfect casting call.

LizzieMaine said:

...
And when Mabel gets home, what do you bet her pushy mother forces her into a marriage with a creepy man old enough to be her father? That'll teach her to go running off with some rattle-brained hepcat.....

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Isn't she "of age" at 18 to get married without parental consent (was it older back then?) and, if so, why'd the police get involved at all?

LizzieMaine said:

... Um.....

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It's a crazy plan, but I'd still be looking for an escape hatch if I was Cheery. Nothing says Singh-Singh can't take both women - I doubt he has any rules he plays by.

Probably there was snow in the driveway and the robbers didn't have a shovel. You can't think of everything on a job like this.

You had to be 21 to get married in Pennsylvania without parental consent -- which is probably why they came to New York, where the age was 18 -- and I imagine it wouldn't take much for a loud parent screaming about a missing teenager to get the police going. "That no good jitterbug, he kidnapped her! YOU'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING! I'M A TAXPAYER! I KNOW MY RIGHTS! I PAY YOUR SALARY! NOW GET GOING!"

I imagine if push comes to shove, the Cap'n would rather be rid of Cheery than Pat, who has been useful to him in the past. And Pat knows if he doesn't get April out of this, Terry will never speak to him again.

Construction could begin on a new Brooklyn-Battery tunnel within seventy-five days. So states Mayor LaGuardia, in praising Parks Commissioner Robert Moses for "cutting the Gordian knot tied about this project by those whose selfish interests cause them to oppose all real improvements for Brooklyn." The Mayor made his remarks before a meeting of the Downtown Brooklyn Association in honor of Judge Edward L. Garvin. selected by the Association as the citizen who has rendered the most distinguished service to the Borough over the past year. The Mayor also took advantage of the occasion to warn recalcitrant stockholders of the BMT who have refused to surrender their holdings in the interest of the city's transit unification plan. "This is not the settlement of a bankruptcy in a cloak and suit house," warned the Mayor. "They can easily see that we cannot stop to bargain individually in a transaction of this kind." The Mayor stressed that the unification plan is the result of eight months of continuous planning, and if it fails, it will be entirely due to "these gentlemen" who are holding out.

In the face of taxpayer protests, the State Legislature has ordered Governor Herbert Lehman's $396,700,000 state budget for 1940 submitted to the test of public hearings. A first open hearing on the appropriations and spending package will be held on Tuesday February 6th. Among those leading the criticism of the budget plan are the members of the Kings County Chapter of the Taxpayers' Federation, who point to the $4,000,000 state defecit as indication that a $5,000,000 budget increase is not warranted.

Brooklyn Assemblyman Robert J. Crews has submitted a resolution to the Legislature demanding a formal state investigation of alleged "subversive alien" activities among members of the National Guard. The resolution follows the arrest of 17 Brooklyn men last week in connection with a Christian Front-backed plot to overthrow the Government, with several of those men revealed to be Guard members, and one of them a commissioned officer.

A key witness in the Amen investigation who had slipped away from police surveillance is in custody today. 51-year-old Harold Carver was arrested around 1:30 pm today in Manhattan, three days after eluding police. Carver is a bookkeeper for the Mill Basin Asphalt Company, business concern under investigation in connection with the bribery of state insurance fund auditor Franklin James. Carver is being held on $10,000 bail, and was released into the custody of the Amen office, on the condition that he "tells everything that he knows." Carver and company president Vito Picone were indicted in December on charges that they bribed James to submit false documents allowing them to withhold $4680 due in payments to the state insurance fund.

The US State Department responded today to British charges that American shippers are reluctant to cooperate with British efforts to stem the shipment of contraband thru their waters by issuing a stern rebuttal to that statement. The US response states that American shippers are going to great lengths to cooperate with the British, though they are under no legal obligation to cooperate at all, and that any lack of cooperation does not justify British detainment of American ships.

A sixty-eight-year-old Flatbush woman was taken to Kings County Hospital today suffering from malnutrition -- but police investigating her home at 90 Sterling Place discovered a hidden hoard of more than $40,000 in bankbooks buried in the piles of trash that filled the six-room apartment. Miss Katherine Powers -- known in her neighborhood as "Bundle Mary" for her habit of carrying bundles of food for stray cats and dogs -- has lived in the apartment as a recluse for twenty years, and was discovered by a neighbor yesterday. The heat in the apartment had been turned off, and the temperature in Miss Powers' bedroom stood at 40 degrees. Miss Powers lay in her bed, surrounded by broken, dust-covered furniture and bundles of moth-eaten clothing dating back to the 1890s. Strewn among the trash were a number of uncashed dividend checks made out to the estate of her brother, who died about twenty years ago. Miss Powers had been in the habit of giving the neighbor, Mrs. Julia Rosetti, a $100 bill each month to pay the rent and to buy milk and eggs, but had not done so recently, causing Mrs. Rosetti to investigate.

Communist Party secretary Earl Browder, free on bail pending an appeal of his conviction yesterday on passport fraud charges, addressed an audience of nearly 20,000 supporters last night at Madison Square Garden. Browder, who was sentenced to four years in prison and a $2000 fine, denounced in his speech New Deal political leaders who have gladly accepted Communist help at election time, only to change face when it was politicially expedient to do so, specifically citing "The Governor of Michigan" as one such example. Browder called his conviction "the opening gun" in a campaign to crush the civil rights and labor movements in America." Pending his appeal, Browder is the Communist candidate in a special Congressional election in Manhattan next month to succeed the late William I. Sirovich.

Only three jurors have been chosen so far for the trial of Long Beach police patrolman Alvin J. Dooley for the murder of Mayor Louis Edwards. It is reported that defense attorney Samuel J. Leibowitz will call two Brooklyn psychiatrists to testify in support of an insanity plea on Dooley's behalf.


(People didn't like the BMV in 1940, either.)

Russian troops trying to break thru Finnish defenses northeast of Lake Lagoda are taking "a terrific punishment" today according to an official Finnish Army communique, with casualities reported to run in the thousands. Reports also claim that a Russian air attack on the capital city of Helsinki was driven off by Finnish anti-aircraft fire.

One of the seventeen Christian Front members arrested last week in Brooklyn on seditious conspiracy charges is willing tol "tell all" to the grand jury, according to U. S. Attorney Harold M. Kennedy. Twenty-four-year-old George Kelly of 76 Rutland Road has agreed to waive immunity and tell his story to the grand jury, but Kennedy has not indicated what action will be taken on Kelly's request to appear before the panel pending the arrival of Assistant U. S. Attorney General John Rogge, who will take charge of criminal prosecution in the case.



The Eagle Editorialist complains that "The Grapes of Wrath" will probably not play in Brooklyn for weeks or months, and wonders if the real reason first-run pictures don't open in the borough simultaneous with their Manhattan openings is that Manhattan theatre owners know they couldn't make a profit without the support of Brooklyn patrons, "nationally known for the support they give to the movies." Meanwhile, small cities and towns nationwide get top film attractions before Brooklyn, a city of nearly three million people.

Clifford Evans says he doesn't dislike Barbara Stanwyck quite so much now that he's seen her in "Remember The Night."

The flu season is well underway, with over 10,000 cases reported nationwide for the first week of 1940. Federal authorities say there is no cause for alarm, with cases reported to be well below the pace of the 1932-33 epidemic, in which over 73,000 cases were reported for the first week of January. Bed rest and careful nursing are seen as the most important elements in treating the flu. Patients should stay in bed for several days after the fever breaks to avoid a relapse.

Following Commissioner Landis's crackdown on farm-system abuses, Dodger president Larry MacPhail expects there will be some drastic changes in the Brooklyn minor-league operation in 1940, with the elimination of working agreements with all teams below the class A1 level, resulting in a thirty percent reduction in farm operations over 1939. Compliance with the Landis edicts will save the Dodgers approximately $100,000 over the new season, but if all teams follow the Brooklyn example, MacPhail predicts the results to the minor leagues will be disastrous. The Dodger president predicts as many as 150 Class C and D teams will be forced to fold under the new arrangement, eliminating jobs for as many as 3000 young players.

Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley says he's through paying Dizzy Dean for what he used to be. With Dean refusing to sign for 1940 at $10,000, Wrigley says he's going to pay the pitcher for current performance, not past reputation, and Ol' Diz's work for the Cubs since joining the team in 1938 has been less than satisfactory. Dean has only won thirteen games over two season in a Chicago uniform.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are said to be deep in the bidding for free agent Benny McCoy, with club president William Benswanger neither confirming nor denying that the Pirates have offered the power-hitting former Tiger a $35,000 deal. The Giants and the Dodgers are also known to be in the bidding for McCoy, but Dodger president Larry MacPhail predicts that McCoy will end up with the Philadelphia Athletics, who had tried to get him from the Tigers in a trade for Wally Moses before Commissioner Landis voided his Detroit contract.

Heavyweight champ Joe Louis will mix it up with Fred Allen tomorrow night, as Allen's "Person You Didn't Expect To Meet." Hear them Wednesday at 9pm over WEAF.

Tonight, actor Dudley Digges joins Oscar Levant, Franklin P. Adams, John Kieran, and Clifton Fadiman on "Information Please," 8:30 pm over WJZ.

Jo will show you what "secret service" is all about.


Leona is about to meet her match, but I predict she will find a friend and ally in Mr. Stereotypically Gay Choreographer here.

It seems that Norman Marsh is a fan of "Dead End Kids" movies.

And in the Daily News...


Guess this is how they can afford all those big stars on the "Lux Radio Theatre."

Best casting ever: Sydney Greenstreet as Nick Gatt.

Ferrett could have avoided all this by not being so bound by gender stereotypes.

Skeezix will be very disappointed when Wilmer is promoted to office manager.

Look at Pat smirking there. He's gone to sleep at night for weeks just dreaming of this.

Hey detective, why not take the kid's footprints and compare them with those of all babies born in city hospitals over the past two months? It'll take a while, but it's better than standing there like Dan Dunn.

That wasn't the telephone ringing there, Lil. Those were warning bells.

Awwww, ol' Emmy always did have a sweet spot for the big lug.

And here is poor Bundle Mary's home -- 90 Sterling Place. She was on the second floor, and those front windows are hers. They were shuttered up with blankets nailed in place with broomsticks and canes.

LizzieMaine said:

Construction could begin on a new Brooklyn-Battery tunnel within seventy-five days. So states Mayor LaGuardia, in praising Parks Commissioner Robert Moses for "cutting the Gordian knot tied about this project by those whose selfish interests cause them to oppose all real improvements for Brooklyn." The Mayor made his remarks before a meeting of the Downtown Brooklyn Association in honor of Judge Edward L. Garvin. selected by the Association as the citizen who has rendered the most distinguished service to the Borough over the past year. The Mayor also took advantage of the occasion to warn recalcitrant stockholders of the BMT who have refused to surrender their holdings in the interest of the city's transit unification plan. "This is not the settlement of a bankruptcy in a cloak and suit house," warned the Mayor. "They can easily see that we cannot stop to bargain individually in a transaction of this kind." The Mayor stressed that the unification plan is the result of eight months of continuous planning, and if it fails, it will be entirely due to "these gentlemen" who are holding out.....

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One, does anyone know what exactly this means ""This is not the settlement of a bankruptcy in a cloak and suit house"?

And, two, regarding the BMT shareholders, I'd need to know more (so maybe LaGuardia is well within his rights), but usually there is a legal contract and process directing shareholder rights/transfers/bankruptcy/etc. - not a mayor just braying for what he wants.

LizzieMaine said:

...In the face of taxpayer protests, the State Legislature has ordered Governor Herbert Lehman's $396,700,000 state budget for 1940 submitted to the test of public hearings. A first open hearing on the appropriations and spending package will be held on Tuesday February 6th. Among those leading the criticism of the budget plan are the members of the Kings County Chapter of the Taxpayers' Federation, who point to the $4,000,000 state defecit as indication that a $5,000,000 budget increase is not warranted....

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NY State's 1940 budget of $396,700,000 is about $7.2 billion in 2020 dollars

NY States actual 2019/20 budget is $176 billion; hence, 2020's budget is ~24 times larger, after adjusting for inflation, than 1940's was.

LizzieMaine said:

...Clifford Evans says he doesn't dislike Barbara Stanwyck quite so much now that he's seen her in "Remember The Night."....

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Stanwyck's talents, apparently, even in her day, were not fully appreciated by some.

Petite, but not a woman I'd want to mess with:

Oh, and "Remember the Night" is a good Christmas movie.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Leona is about to meet her match, but I predict she will find a friend and ally in Mr. Stereotypically Gay Choreographer here....

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"Leone Smith" seriously? She couldn't have come up with something a little bit more creative (and less obvious)?

LizzieMaine said:

...
Guess this is how they can afford all those big stars on the "Lux Radio Theatre."....

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Before reading the article, had I asked you to name the Hollywood actor with the highest salary in 1938, how many guesses would it have taken for you to get to Warner Baxter? I'd have run out of guesses first.

LizzieMaine said:

...but it's better than standing there like Dan Dunn.....

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LizzieMaine said:

And here is poor Bundle Mary's home -- 90 Sterling Place. She was on the second floor, and those front windows are hers. They were shuttered up with blankets nailed in place with broomsticks and canes.

View attachment 207844

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If they don't steal if from her, her $40,000 is worth about $730,000 today. Hence, if not cheated and she gets help, she could be okay.