The Era -- Day By Day

Frank King of "Gasoline Alley" is the most underrated artist ever to do a daily comic strip. His figures seem so sketchy and so simple that you don't even notice how moody and how complex his style really is until he drops a strip like today's on you. That one the other day where Skeezix is climbing the stairs to his room, and you see it from a perspective looking down from a high angle above that really emphasizes the oppressive gloom of the scene, was absolutely spectacular, and this one's just as good.

Which gives me another opportunity to plug the "Walt and Skeezix" books from Drawn & Quarterly, a Canadian firm that's reprinting the entire daily run of "Gasoline Alley" in fine hardcover volumes. They're up to 1933-34 in the latest volume, in which Skeezix is discovering adolescence (Skeezix will never quite equal Harold Teen as a rattle-brained hepcat, but he will have his moments...) and the only bad thing I can say about the series is that they only come out with a new one every four years or so. I have the whole set so far, and intend to keep up with them as long as they keep them coming.

I think the deal with GWTW at the Metropolitan is that all evening shows are reserved-seats only, while if you're willing to see an afternoon continuous-show "Come In Any Time And See A Complete Performance" matinee, those seats are all general admission. And it's not coming to the Patio at popular prices until 1941 at the earliest, so those are your only choices. I do think there might be a matter of "we better get reserved seats or we won't get seats at all" going on among those movie fans who don't bother to read the fine print in the ads and just listen to the hype.

Mr. Cohn reviewed "His Girl Friday" in the January 12th Eagle:

LizzieMaine said:

Frank King of "Gasoline Alley" is the most underrated artist ever to do a daily comic strip. His figures seem so sketchy and so simple that you don't even notice how moody and how complex his style really is until he drops a strip like today's on you. That one the other day where Skeezix is climbing the stairs to his room, and you see it from a perspective looking down from a high angle above that really emphasizes the oppressive gloom of the scene, was absolutely spectacular, and this one's just as good.

Which gives me another opportunity to plug the "Walt and Skeezix" books from Drawn & Quarterly, a Canadian firm that's reprinting the entire daily run of "Gasoline Alley" in fine hardcover volumes. They're up to 1933-34 in the latest volume, in which Skeezix is discovering adolescence (Skeezix will never quite equal Harold Teen as a rattle-brained hepcat, but he will have his moments...) and the only bad thing I can say about the series is that they only come out with a new one every four years or so. I have the whole set so far, and intend to keep up with them as long as they keep them coming.

I think the deal with GWTW at the Metropolitan is that all evening shows are reserved-seats only, while if you're willing to see an afternoon continuous-show "Come In Any Time And See A Complete Performance" matinee, those seats are all general admission. And it's not coming to the Patio at popular prices until 1941 at the earliest, so those are your only choices. I do think there might be a matter of "we better get reserved seats or we won't get seats at all" going on among those movie fans who don't bother to read the fine print in the ads and just listen to the hype.

Mr. Cohn reviewed "His Girl Friday" in the January 12th Eagle:

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Kudos to Cohen as he got how fantastic "His Girl Friday" is; although, I would have expected a comment or two about the lighting-fast-dialogue and jumping-off-the-screen chemistry, specifically, between Russell and Grant. (Thanks for for posting the review Lizzie.)

Re "Gasoline Alley," it seems like noir movie directors were filching style, setting, angles and lighting from the comic strips.

Also, thank you, good color on GWTW seating.

Appearing before the convention of the National Youth Congress in Washington, President Roosevelt today in a coast-to-coast radio broadcast denounced the Soviet Union's attack on Finland and declared that it is "axiomatic" that the United States should extend financial loans to Finland. The President called the present Russian government "a dictatorship as plain as any other," and acknowledged that he had hoped the nation could "work out its own problems." But, the President stated, "that hope today is either shattered or put away in storage against a better day." The President noted that American Communists have every right to "peacefully and openly" advocate "theoretical communism," but warned that it was "the sacred duty of such elements" to confine their advocacy of changes in law to "methods prescribed by the Constitution." The President's remarks on the Soviet situation were widely anticipated, given that the Young Communist League is one of the NYC's member organizations, and that there has been mounting pressure within the NYC for their expulsion. A resolution passed by one of the NYC's affiliated councils denounced proposed US loans to Finland as "an attempt to force the United States into an imperialistic war," and the President's remarks on Finland were greeted by a mixture of cheers and boos.

A proposed merger between the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations could come as early as March 15th under a plan put forth by CIO leader John L. Lewis. Speaking before the National Youth Congress, Lewis called for the two labor organizations to meet and combine their functions, and stated that if they do so, he will not be a candidate to serve as head of the combined body. Negotiations between the AFL and CIO toward a possible merger broke off last April, and have not resumed since.

Engineers for the Federal Loan Administration have approved plans for the proposed Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, and have recommended the approval of a loan to the New York Tunnel Authority to build the tube. The Chairman of the Federal lending agency states that the report is now under review, with a decision expected within the month.

The head of the Silver Shirt Legion was arrested today in Washington on a parole violation from the state of North Carolina. William Dudley Pelley, who had appeared last week before the Dies Committee, was taken into custody by a Washington detective on an outstanding warrant for violation of parole after his convinction on charges of violating North Carolina securities laws in a stock-selling promotion in that state. Pelley vowed to fight extradition back to North Carolina.

Judge Franklin Taylor continues his lyrical attacks on Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen in denouncing the Amen Office's summoning of jurors in the recent Behan trial to give testimony before a special grand jury. Judge Taylor, who regaled newspaper reporters last week with a limerick prior to his own appearance before the grand jury, released the following as his reaction to Amen's latest move: "To question a juror, my son -- Is a serious matter, not fun. For the Civil Rights Law -- Says it really is raw -- To rib him for what he has done. Mr. Amen had no reply to the Judge's latest poetic effort.

With open rebellion seething within the Police Department over questionnaires distributed by Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine demanding information on political affiliations of department members, Mayor LaGuardia now says he will not require the Commissioner to enforce the return of those cards. Informed sources state that both the Mayor and the Commissioner feel they have "stepped on the wrong toes" in issuing the question cards, and that they would now like to "drop the matter entirely."


A car ad on February 11th with no mention of Abraham Lincoln. The mind boggles.

The 27-year-old unwed mother who abandoned her baby on the doorstep of an apartment building on 86th Street last week will remain in custody on $500 bail pending a further court appearance on Tuesday. Miss Estelle Rybicki pleaded in Brooklyn Felony Court yesterday for another chance to do the right thing by her baby son, but the court ruled that she would be better off staying in jail. Miss Rybicki stated that she had tried to place the child in homes several times, but was always turned away because the boy was "too young." She also acknowledged that she had no home herself.


Ought to have extra-large mattresses, you know. Lincoln was a tall fellow.

The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street swings out with percussion virtuoso Zutti Singleton along with Paul LaValle's orchestra, Henry Levine's Octet, and vocalist Dinah Shore, this afternoon at 4:30 over WJZ.


Wendell who? Never heard of him.

"Oppressed" writes in to Helen Worth to wonder if it's normal for a seventeen-year-old girl to get spanked by her parents. She finds it humiliating and deeply disturbing that her father takes the razor strap to her, and her mother the hairbrush, and wonders if anyone else her age has to undergo such degradation. Helen is shocked to hear of something like this, and declares that it is positively unthinkable that this is happening in a time when even the spanking of small children is frowned upon. She admits she sometimes does receive letters like this but usually throws them away after recognizing that they come from "someone with a mild mental perversion," but she finds the ring of truth in "Oppressed's" story, and urges her to point out to her parents that their actions leave them open to accusations of "sordid and unsavory behavior."


(And Sally looks over at Joe, furiously scribbling away with his pencil, and says "You ain't s'posed to just write in anything you want! That ain't how it works!" And Joe replies, "Well, it works for me!")

This week's Trend cover boy is --


-- so who else?

Ayn Rand's new play "The Unconquered," adapted from her novel "We The Living," opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Tuesday in a production by George Abbott. Miss Rand says she's grateful for Abbott's support, stating that "he cares more for the romance of my drama than for any political comments that may be revealed by it." Attempts to produce the play last year in Baltimore met with so many mishaps that the author felt "it couldn't be judged fairly." Miss Rand notes that Mr. Abbott has worked with her since then to "improve the play," and feels that she is receiving the sort of production for her work "that most playwrights can only dream of."

The next contender for the heavyweight championship says Friday night's Louis-Godoy bout was the "most stupid fight" he's ever seen. Johnny Paychek of St. Louis will face the Brown Bomber at the Garden on April 3rd.

Pitchers and catchers are due to report to Clearwater in four days as the Dodgers' spring training season gets underway this week. One who will not be in camp this year is Goody Rosen, one of the Dodgers' multiplicity of outfielders, who was sold yesterday by Larry MacPhail to the Columbus Redbirds of the American Association for $10,000. Rosen thus passes into the control of Branch Rickey, who may have plans for the outfielder with the Cardinals. Rosen only hit .251 for Brooklyn last year before being farmed out to Montreal, where he improved his average to .302.

Old-Timer M. Rawlins remembers all the good things that used to emerge from Mama's coal-fired range -- bread and cakes and pies and pork and beans -- and also remembered how you used to have to get dressed in the kitchen on cold winter mornings because it was the only heated room in the house.


I'm disappointed. I thought there was going to be a monkey. Every story is better with a monkey.


And for the rest of his days, young Dennie answered to the nickname "Tomcat." Well, no, actually, Dennie grows up to be a tedious suburbanite, but it's fun to dream.


As his last moment of conscious existence fades away under the attack of George Arliss's deadly gas, Dan Dunn hallucinates better times. But those times are just as dumb as any other, because it's Dan Dunn.

Jo, dear, have you considered a vacation? A good long one?

And in the Daily News..


"Now that's news! None of that politics crap!"


"That's nothin'," says Sally. "*I* could beat up Goebbels."


I can't stop looking at the Literary Success's ear. Mr. Hill used real people he knew for his models, and this guy must've been something to see in person.

Whereas Mr. Gould seems to use the label of a baby-food jar as his model.

I'll be interested to see what happens when John finds out that Annie is pulling Mr. Gatt's strings. I can't imagine he'll be pleased.

The Sunday "Moon Mullins" continutiy has revolved for the past few weeks around this goofy dog that Kayo brought back to the boardinghouse, much to Emmy's dismay and disgust. But it seems the whole plotline has been just a buildup to the usual ritual humiliation of Lord Plushbottom. Panel Six is especially choice.

And once again, how much we miss out on by not getting the page in color.

Speaking of ritual humiliations, what of poor Shadow Smart here -- eternally condemned by his short stature to a life as Cupid, Baby New Year, and anything else his perverse buddies can come up with. I bet he's *glad* Harold left town.

And once again -- oh, to see this page in color.

LizzieMaine said:

...
A proposed merger between the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations could come as early as March 15th under a plan put forth by CIO leader John L. Lewis. Speaking before the National Youth Congress, Lewis called for the two labor organizations to meet and combine their functions, and stated that if they do so, he will not be a candidate to serve as head of the combined body. Negotiations between the AFL and CIO toward a possible merger broke off last April, and have not resumed since....

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One of the fun things about these "The Era -- Day-by-Day" posts is reading about the antecedents of things you grew up with, as, in this case (in the '70s), the already merged AFL-CIO.

LizzieMaine said:

...Judge Franklin Taylor continues his lyrical attacks on Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen in denouncing the Amen Office's summoning of jurors in the recent Behan trial to give testimony before a special grand jury. Judge Taylor, who regaled newspaper reporters last week with a limerick prior to his own appearance before the grand jury, released the following as his reaction to Amen's latest move: "To question a juror, my son -- Is a serious matter, not fun. For the Civil Rights Law -- Says it really is raw -- To rib him for what he has done. Mr. Amen had no reply to the Judge's latest poetic effort....

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Based only on what we've read in these posts, my sympathies tilt toward Amen, but I do see real issues with the summoning of jurors to testify before a grand jury.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Ought to have extra-large mattresses, you know. Lincoln was a tall fellow....

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If only A&S sold cars, then you could have gotten your Lincoln-Packard tie-in.

LizzieMaine said:

...Ayn Rand's new play "The Unconquered," adapted from her novel "We The Living," opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Tuesday in a production by George Abbott. Miss Rand says she's grateful for Abbott's support, stating that "he cares more for the romance of my drama than for any political comments that may be revealed by it." Attempts to produce the play last year in Baltimore met with so many mishaps that the author felt "it couldn't be judged fairly." Miss Rand notes that Mr. Abbott has worked with her since then to "improve the play," and feels that she is receiving the sort of production for her work "that most playwrights can only dream of."....

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Since the book that put her on the map, "The Fountainhead," wasn't published until '43, my guess is that the most common response to this blurb had to be, "who the heck is Ayn Rand and how do you pronounce 'Ayn'."

LizzieMaine said:

...

As his last moment of conscious existence fades away under the attack of George Arliss's deadly gas, Dan Dunn hallucinates better times. But those times are just as dumb as any other, because it's Dan Dunn....

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My God, the crook literally had to run into Dunn for Dunn to make a successful arrest.

LizzieMaine said:

... Jo, dear, have you considered a vacation? A good long one?

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Jo's melting down. Would your first thought at finding one stray hair on your spouses' coat be that he or she is having an affair? Who thinks that way unless they have a lot of other reasons to jump to that conclusion?

LizzieMaine said:

...
I can't stop looking at the Literary Success's ear. Mr. Hill used real people he knew for his models, and this guy must've been something to see in person.....

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"Son-in-law with a line," is, in some ways, the plot of the 1949 movie "East Side, West Side." James Mason does a particularly good job of playing the smarmy son in law.

LizzieMaine said:

... Whereas Mr. Gould seems to use the label of a baby-food jar as his model....

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Couldn't he have just tested it on one of the babies in the tropics as I gotta believe the owner of a rubber plantation back then could have easily pulled that off - easier than all the crazy machinations he went through to test it on his own grandson. Or, maybe Tracy's right: "He's plain crazy, in other words."

LizzieMaine said:

... And once again, how much we miss out on by not getting the page in color.....

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Kinda feels like Cheery is breaking the fourth wall.

"We The Living" was advertised on the back dust jacket of "Gone With the Wind," which suggests the good marketers at Macmillan didn't quite know how to sell it.

I had never heard of a Rand play on Broadway, least of all one produced by George Abbott -- whose shows are usually aimed right at the breadbasket. Dean Jagger is mentioned as the star, an actor whose career up to 1940 has been all over the proverbial map. I look forward to Mr. Pollock's review.

This Tracy plot is becoming more bizarre by the day. Mr. Gould was advocate of seat-of-your-pants writing, and never had his plots mapped out in his head in advance, which is why they always tend to wander -- but this one promises to be even more all-over-the-place.

LizzieMaine said:

"We The Living" was advertised on the back dust jacket of "Gone With the Wind," which suggests the good marketers at Macmillan didn't quite know how to sell it.

I had never heard of a Rand play on Broadway, least of all one produced by George Abbott -- whose shows are usually aimed right at the breadbasket. Dean Jagger is mentioned as the star, an actor whose career up to 1940 has been all over the proverbial map. I look forward to Mr. Pollock's review.

This Tracy plot is becoming more bizarre by the day. Mr. Gould was advocate of seat-of-your-pants writing, and never had his plots mapped out in his head in advance, which is why they always tend to wander -- but this one promises to be even more all-over-the-place.

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Jagger is one of my favorite "below the radar" major talents. His performances are always spot on and smartly nuanced; he just didn't have either the matinee-idol looks to be a leaning man or something quirky enough to make him a memorable character actor, so he just did his job really well and with little public notice (at least today).

Placard-carrying taxpayers flooded the state capital of Albany for a public hearing on Governor Herbert H. Lehman's proposed 1940 budget. Police with riot sticks kept up to 10,000 protestors under control as the hearing convened at the Tenth Infantry Armory, only hall in the city large enough to contain the crowd. Protestors arrived in Albany by special trains and buses from all over the state, including a delegation of more than a thousand taxpayers from Brooklyn. The various groups represented in the protests are demanding cuts of from $17,000,000 to $50,000,000 in the Governor's proposed $398,700,000 spending package.



A sixteen-year-old "Dead End Kid" from the Bronx is charged with shooting a fifteen-year-old companion to death on a dare after the two youths burglarized a Manhattan jewelry store yesterday. Police say that 16 year old Paul Ebersole and 15 year old Woodrow Bass, also of the Bronx, brought the loot from their robbery to an apartment on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan where they argued over possession of a gun taken in the burglary. Two other men who are boarders in the 2nd Avenue residence say Bass and Ebersole quarrelled over the gun, and Bass told Ebersole "he didn't have the guts to shoot." Ebersole disputed that statement, claiming the gun went off accidentally.

A United Press correspondent just back from the Finnish front disputes reports that "belittle" the strength of the Russian Army. Reporter Webb Miller, reporting from Stockholm, Sweden in a dispatch free from any official censorship, states that claims that the Soviet military is "poor" are incorrect, and that the Finns have now realized that efforts to portray it as such are now "undesirable." Miller reports that the first phase of the Russian attack on the Mannerheim Line has been turned back -- but he stresses that this does not mean there will not be further attacks, with "everything pointing to the contrary." Miller also states that there is far more "foreign aid" moving into Finland than has been reported, and not just in the form of money -- fighter planes and bombers from "other countries" he does not name are arriving "daily."

A "Negro surgeon" who has long practiced in Downtown Brooklyn has been appointed to the post of Assistant Visiting Surgeon at Cumberland Hospital. Born in Houston, Texas and educated at Dartmouth, Dr. V. Leonard Williams served as a Second Lieutenant during the World War, and has a brother who is also a physician, practicing in White Plains. Dr. Williams has recently expanded his private practice to the Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, sharing offices with Dr. William R. R. Granger at 398 Stuyvesant Avenue.

Comedian Bert Lahr, now starring on Broadway in "DuBarry Was A Lady," and Mildred Schroeder Robinson of Brooklyn, have married. The rubber-faced comic and the former showgirl were united in matrimony by a Justice of the Peace in Maryland, three years after Mrs. Robinson's previous husband threatened to sue Lahr for alienation of affection after a well-publicized Reno divorce. Joseph S. Robinson of 94 Clinton Street hired detectives to shadow the comedian and prove that he had consipired with Mrs. Robinson to break up their marriage, but in the end did not contest the divorce or file the threatened $500,000 suit.


Maybe Leona didn't get a gig hawking soda, but Mary Worth did. I wonder if Bill will endorse R. C.?

A male prisoner who escaped from the Women's House of Detention in Manhattan is a seven-time convict, according to police. Francis McIvor, son of a former police captain, had been sent to the women's prison as part of a 36-man work detail to clean cells, and while the guard leading the detail had his back turned trying to unlock a door, McIvor managed to run away, scale a twelve foot wall, and make a clean getaway. The Department of Corrections had no comment when asked why such a prisoner had been made a trusty.

An eight pound baby girl found abandoned in an ash can in Bushwick yesterday by a police dog out for a walk with his master was reported in "serious but improved condition" today at Kings County Hospital. The infant, blue with cold and wrapped only in a scrap of stained bed sheet, was discovered by the dog in a receptacle in front of 545 Hart Street. Police from the Ralph Street station are investigating.

The American Youth Congress has concluded its Citizenship Institute conference in Washington without showing any indication of following President Roosevelt's lead in endorsing aid to Finland. Delegates only gave mild and polite response to statements by the President and Mrs. Roosevelt, but cheered loudly when one of their leaders urged them to withhold judgement until the Soviet side of the story is heard. Subsequent speakers debated whether or not the current Finnish government has "Fascist tendencies," and whether Americans should be involved in questions best left for the Finnish people to decide for themselves.

Now playing at the Patio, it's Myrna Loy and William Powell in "Another Thin Man," paired with Pat O'Brien and Olympe Bradna in "The Night of Nights."

Judge Franklin Taylor made headlines last week with his poetic thrusts at Assistant Attorney General John Amen, but what you might not know is that the Brooklyn jurist is long acquainted with The Muse. Judge Taylor has been sending in material to literary agents under the pen name of "Earl Pennington" for years, and while he has not yet been published, it is certainly not for lack of effort. The Judge says he once wrote -- and then tore up -- a 50,000 word novel because it showed itself as the work of "a tired man." In addition to poetry and fiction, the judge also writes essays, psychological treatises, and literary criticism, often during spare moments during trials.

Columnist Harold Parrott is "winging south" to Clearwater to join the Dodgers at their training camp, opening this week, where he looks forward to renewing acquaintances with Mr. Durocher, Mr. MacPhail, and all their charges. The Red-Headed One is still very busy looking for another slugging outfielder, even after signing the pricey Mr. Cullenbine and sending Goody Rosen away to the waiting embrace of Mr. Rickey, and has today purchased Joe Vosmik from the Boston Red Sox for an undisclosed amount of cash. Vosmik hit .276 for the Bosox last year, a step down from his 1938 average of .325. And what about Joe Medwick? Durocher says the Duck is one of the stubbornest men he's ever met, and that while he'd love to have Medwick in Brooklyn, "it just isn't going to happen."

Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester appear tonight in "Sidewalks of London," on the Lux Radio Theatre, 9pm over WABC.

"The Revuers," five bright young people who write and perform their own sparkling musical satires on W2XBS television, will appear in a future edition of Norman Corwin's "Pursuit of Happiness" radio program. The Revuers are Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Judy Tuvim, Alvin Hammer, and John Frank, and got their start together working in Greenwich Village nightclubs before a booking at the Rainbow Room brought them to the attention of NBC. (Something tells me we will be hearing more of these bright young people in years to come. And also their accompanist, a clever piano player named Len Bernstein.)

Ahhhh. If you wonder why Major Oakdale bothers with such shopworn people as the Bungles, perhaps this may offer some enlightenment.

For the first time in her life, Leona is genuinely terrified. Get used to it, kiddo.

Pretty hard core for the leader of a cheap car-stripping ring.

And in the Daily News...


"Nygggah! Nygggah! Nygggah!"


But Mr. Caniff isn't allowed to use the word "Japan" in his strip.

"But they said you were a 'crusading DA.' Aren't you going to -- you know -- crusade?"

"Hmmmm. He appears to be transforming into a monkey. This isn't going as I planned."

Like I've said before, Bim might have billions, but his wealth is in inverse proportion to his intelligence and common sense.

Don't let the bedbugs bite...

Why not just cover the hole with translucent paper? It'll save you the trouble next time.

"Lamb Pie," of course, is one of young Harold's many pet names for the lost and lamented Lillums, along with "Honey Lamb," "Honey Bun," "Lil-Bug," "Sweet Sheba," and on and on. Maybe you should just give her a list.

LizzieMaine said:

Placard-carrying taxpayers flooded the state capital of Albany for a public hearing on Governor Herbert H. Lehman's proposed 1940 budget. Police with riot sticks kept up to 10,000 protestors under control as the hearing convened at the Tenth Infantry Armory, only hall in the city large enough to contain the crowd. Protestors arrived in Albany by special trains and buses from all over the state, including a delegation of more than a thousand taxpayers from Brooklyn. The various groups represented in the protests are demanding cuts of from $17,000,000 to $50,000,000 in the Governor's proposed $398,700,000 spending package.....

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That caught me by surprise as I expected the protesters to be asking for more money for their particular group.

LizzieMaine said:

...A "Negro surgeon" who has long practiced in Downtown Brooklyn has been appointed to the post of Assistant Visiting Surgeon at Cumberland Hospital. Born in Houston, Texas and educated at Dartmouth, Dr. V. Leonard Williams served as a Second Lieutenant during the World War, and has a brother who is also a physician, practicing in White Plains. Dr. Williams has recently expanded his private practice to the Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, sharing offices with Dr. William R. R. Granger at 398 Stuyvesant Avenue.....

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Could not have been easy - impressive family - very cool to see.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Maybe Leona didn't get a gig hawking soda, but Mary Worth did. I wonder if Bill will endorse R. C.?....

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LizzieMaine said:

...A male prisoner who escaped from the Women's House of Detention in Manhattan is a seven-time convict, according to police. Francis McIvor, son of a former police captain, had been sent to the women's prison as part of a 36-man work detail to clean cells, and while the guard leading the detail had his back turned trying to unlock a door, McIvor managed to run away, scale a twelve foot wall, and make a clean getaway. The Department of Corrections had no comment when asked why such a prisoner had been made a trusty.....

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Why exactly weren't the women prisoners cleaning their own cells?

LizzieMaine said:

...Vosmik hit .276 for the Bosox last year, a step down from his 1938 average of .325.....

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That's more than "a step down."

LizzieMaine said:

... View attachment 212546 Ahhhh. If you wonder why Major Oakdale bothers with such shopworn people as the Bungles, perhaps this may offer some enlightenment.... .

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"They've aired us for years." Get it, just never heard it put quite that way. And this should push Jo one more step closer to the edge.

LizzieMaine said:

... Pretty hard core for the leader of a cheap car-stripping ring.

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What criminals in their right minds devote such effort to killing a tramp? Is every one in "Dan Dunn" an idiot?

LizzieMaine said:

... Like I've said before, Bim might have billions, but his wealth is in inverse proportion to his intelligence and common sense.....

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Being new to "The Gumps," I don't get it, what is the older social-climbing woman's (don't even remember her name yet) power that they are all so afraid of her?

LizzieMaine said:

... Don't let the bedbugs bite.....

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To scale, April is either 4' tall and 80lbs or Pat is 8' tall 400lbs (and not heavy).

LizzieMaine said:

... View attachment 212571 Why not just cover the hole with translucent paper? It'll save you the trouble next time.... .

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In the dictionary, this could be next to '40s broad's dry snappy comeback: "Yes, but that racketeer ducked!" (Eve Arden could deliver the line in her sleep.)

That whole "men's work detail cleaning a women's prison" sounds like a setup for the worst "stag movie" ever made. I can't imagine what they were thinking.

The sad thing is, for as long as the Dodgers remained in Brooklyn they'd never manage to get and keep just the right complement of outfielders -- there will always be one weak spot to be filled. That's why they're so desperate to have Mookie -- ah, Medwick.

I was trying to think of who should play Gee-Gee in a hypothetical Moon Mullins movie. Eve Arden is the perfect choice.

Mean old Mama's story is a long and convoluted one. Okay. Let's see now...

Back in 1933 Bim met and fell and love with showgirl Millie DeStross, whose mother had her eyes fixed on Bim's billions. But Millie was also coveted by Bim's arch-enemy Townsend Zander, who had deserted his wife Henrietta in pursuit of ill-gotten gains, leaving Henrietta to try to marry Bim back in 1922, an affair that led to an enormous breach-of-promise suit when Bim got cold feet. Zander reappeared in 1932, trying to get back together with Henrietta, who had by this time fallen in love with Tom Carr, a former business partner of Andy's who had been sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit, only to be released just as the girl he'd left behind died of an unspecified disease. Tom then became a millionaire by selling a patented burglar alarm, and eventually he and Henrietta married, leaving Townsend Zander out in the cold. Zander, who had blamed Bim's influence for Henrietta's decision to marry Tom, swore revenge against Bim and planned, while in disguise (a pair of thick glasses) to swindle him out of his billions in a crooked poker game while at the same time stealing Millie for himself. The plan backfired, but Bim became convinced Millie had betrayed him with Zander, and broke off the romance, leaving Mama and Millie unable to pay the bills they'd run up trying to impress Bim. Mama then plotted and schemed to get Bim and Millie back together, but Andy and Min, convinced that if Bim married they'd be cut out of his fortune, interfered to prevent this.

(pause for breath)

Meanwhile, Zander, fleeing from both Bim's agents, his former gang members, and the police, made one last desperate attempt to defeat Bim -- he waylaid Bim's limousine on a country road, killed Bim's chauffeur, knocked Bim unconscious with chloroform, dumped liquor around him, propped him up behind the steering wheel, pulled open the throttle lever, put the car in gear, and let it roll off a cliff and into a river, where only Bim's top hat floated away. But Bim miraculously survived, although stripped of his memory, and he stumbled thru the woods until he end up at the cabin of a woodsman and his young daughter who nursed him back to health, unaware of who he was. Back in the City, Andy and Min wept big crocodile tears and prepared to inherit their uncle's fortune, making plans to move to Australia to take charge of the estate. Back at the cabin in the woods, Bim sees a newspaper article about Townsend Zander and the shock brings back his memory, and he leaps from his bed swearing his own dark vengeance. He hurries back to the city, where he finds Min rummaging thru his trunk, and Andy parading around the house in Bim's full dress suit.

(pause again for breath)

Meanwhile, Zander has been romancing Millie by promising to pay all their debts. Millie hates Zander, who is a creepy long-nosed fellow with unkempt hair and a pointed beard (he looks like Lionel Atwill gone fully insane), but Mama pushes her into agreeing to marry him, seeing it as the only way out. Several days pass before Bim finally catches up with Millie, declares her love for her, and promises to marry her. Mama is caught by suprise, but what's Zander's promises against Bim's billions? The wedding goes forward but suddenly Zander bursts into the church waving what he claims is a marriage certificate proving that Millie is in fact his wife. Bim doesn't know what to think, but when the minister refuses to go on the wedding he decides he's been betrayed yet again and calls the whole thing off. Mama, enraged at "the old kangaroo's" perfidy, convinces Millie to sue him for $30,000,000 for breach of promise. It's now Bim's turn to be nonplussed -- and he tries to get out of the suit in every way possible, offering settlement after settlement, with Mama turing up her demands with each new offer. Finally, just as the jury reaches a verdict in the suit, Bim and Millie race into the courtroom declaring that the whole thing is off -- they've gotten married! Everyone rejoices except Mama -- who, instead of having an easy $30,000,000 free and clear right now, is dependent on Bim's largesse and the hope that she will live long enough to control the estate on behalf of her daughter once Bim dies -- assuming that dreadful niece and nephew Andy and Min don't euchre her out of her share before that.

And that, at last, is why Mama is desperate to (1) attain her own place in society and (2) to get the better of Uncle Bim and (3) hates Andy and Min worse than poison.

Soap operas had nothing on the funnies.

LizzieMaine said:

That whole "men's work detail cleaning a women's prison" sounds like a setup for the worst "stag movie" ever made. I can't imagine what they were thinking.

The sad thing is, for as long as the Dodgers remained in Brooklyn they'd never manage to get and keep just the right complement of outfielders -- there will always be one weak spot to be filled. That's why they're so desperate to have Mookie -- ah, Medwick.

I was trying to think of who should play Gee-Gee in a hypothetical Moon Mullins movie. Eve Arden is the perfect choice.

Mean old Mama's story is a long and convoluted one. Okay. Let's see now...

Back in 1933 Bim met and fell and love with showgirl Millie DeStross, whose mother had her eyes fixed on Bim's billions. But Millie was also coveted by Bim's arch-enemy Townsend Zander, who had deserted his wife Henrietta in pursuit of ill-gotten gains, leaving Henrietta to try to marry Bim back in 1922, an affair that led to an enormous breach-of-promise suit when Bim got cold feet. Zander reappeared in 1932, trying to get back together with Henrietta, who had by this time fallen in love with Tom Carr, a former business partner of Andy's who had been sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit, only to be released just as the girl he'd left behind died of an unspecified disease. Tom then became a millionaire by selling a patented burglar alarm, and eventually he and Henrietta married, leaving Townsend Zander out in the cold. Zander, who had blamed Bim's influence for Henrietta's decision to marry Tom, swore revenge against Bim and planned, while in disguise (a pair of thick glasses) to swindle him out of his billions in a crooked poker game while at the same time stealing Millie for himself. The plan backfired, but Bim became convinced Millie had betrayed him with Zander, and broke off the romance, leaving Mama and Millie unable to pay the bills they'd run up trying to impress Bim. Mama then plotted and schemed to get Bim and Millie back together, but Andy and Min, convinced that if Bim married they'd be cut out of his fortune, interfered to prevent this.

(pause for breath)

Meanwhile, Zander, fleeing from both Bim's agents, his former gang members, and the police, made one last desperate attempt to defeat Bim -- he waylaid Bim's limousine on a country road, killed Bim's chauffeur, knocked Bim unconscious with chloroform, dumped liquor around him, propped him up behind the steering wheel, pulled open the throttle lever, put the car in gear, and let it roll off a cliff and into a river, where only Bim's top hat floated away. But Bim miraculously survived, although stripped of his memory, and he stumbled thru the woods until he end up at the cabin of a woodsman and his young daughter who nursed him back to health, unaware of who he was. Back in the City, Andy and Min wept big crocodile tears and prepared to inherit their uncle's fortune, making plans to move to Australia to take charge of the estate. Back at the cabin in the woods, Bim sees a newspaper article about Townsend Zander and the shock brings back his memory, and he leaps from his bed swearing his own dark vengeance. He hurries back to the city, where he finds Min rummaging thru his trunk, and Andy parading around the house in Bim's full dress suit.

(pause again for breath)

Meanwhile, Zander has been romancing Millie by promising to pay all their debts. Millie hates Zander, who is a creepy long-nosed fellow with unkempt hair and a pointed beard (he looks like Lionel Atwill gone fully insane), but Mama pushes her into agreeing to marry him, seeing it as the only way out. Several days pass before Bim finally catches up with Millie, declares her love for her, and promises to marry her. Mama is caught by suprise, but what's Zander's promises against Bim's billions? The wedding goes forward but suddenly Zander bursts into the church waving what he claims is a marriage certificate proving that Millie is in fact his wife. Bim doesn't know what to think, but when the minister refuses to go on the wedding he decides he's been betrayed yet again and calls the whole thing off. Mama, enraged at "the old kangaroo's" perfidy, convinces Millie to sue him for $30,000,000 for breach of promise. It's now Bim's turn to be nonplussed -- and he tries to get out of the suit in every way possible, offering settlement after settlement, with Mama turing up her demands with each new offer. Finally, just as the jury reaches a verdict in the suit, Bim and Millie race into the courtroom declaring that the whole thing is off -- they've gotten married! Everyone rejoices except Mama -- who, instead of having an easy $30,000,000 free and clear right now, is dependent on Bim's largesse and the hope that she will live long enough to control the estate on behalf of her daughter once Bim dies -- assuming that dreadful niece and nephew Andy and Min don't euchre her out of her share before that.

And that, at last, is why Mama is desperate to (1) attain her own place in society and (2) to get the better of Uncle Bim and (3) hates Andy and Min worse than poison.

Soap operas had nothing on the funnies.

Click to expand...

Holy Smoke, that is not a story for the kiddies. That's a lot going on, but now I get it, thank you. Since it wouldn't seem beyond the pale in that world, Bim needs to hire a hitman to kill momma. Yes, it's wrong and all that, but in that world, just do it and move on.

Townsend Zander, ARCH-FIEND, in all his sinister glory...









Townsend Zander! He's looking in your window! RIGHT NOW!

LizzieMaine said:

Townsend Zander, ARCH-FIEND, in all his sinister glory...

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Townsend Zander! He's looking in your window! RIGHT NOW!

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That's some seriously dark and evil stuff. Townsend Zander - good villain name.

Tammany District Leader William Solomon and Deputy State Controller Charles H. Mullens were indicted today on charges of bribery and extortion stemming from the ongoing investigation of improprieties in the awarding of state printing contracts. Solomon and Mullens surrendered at noon today to Murray H. Gurfein, head of Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey's rackets bureau, and will be arraigned this afternoon in General Sessions Court. The indictment also names two officers of the Burland Printing Company with violating state income tax laws, and one of those officers, company treasurer Julius Weinstein has also surrendered. Weinstein is charged with reporting only $16,000 of his $44,000 total income for 1938. Solomon and Mullens are specifically accused of accepting more than $35,000 in illegal fees from the Burland company for printing contracts awarded between 1934 and 1939. Solomon and Mullens entered pleas of not guilty, and bail for each has been set at $10,000.

The 27-year-old unwed mother accused of abandoning her baby on a Bay Ridge doorstep last week has been freed, with the charges dismissed -- but the reported father of the child will face action on paternity and seduction charges. Miss Estelle Rybicki had admitted to leaving the six-month-old boy on the doorstep of the apartment house at 344 80th Street, where the child's father lived, but told the court it was an act of desperation after she realized she was unable to care for the child and hold down a job, and after she had been shunted "back and forth" by churches and relief agencies to which she had applied for help. Miss Rybicki told the court she had only five cents left to her name when she decided to leave the baby on his father's step, believing that the father would be better able to support the child "since he can afford to go out drinking all night." Miss Rybicki's lawyer vouched for her before the court, and promised that a job was waiting for her -- and that arrangements had been made to ensure the baby would be cared for.

Rising film star Lana Turner and renegade bandleader Artie Shaw eloped to Las Vegas early today, rousing a justice of the peace out of bed at 4 AM to perform the wedding ceremony. Miss Turner, last seen in "Dancing Co-Ed," is twenty years old and has never before been married. Mr. Shaw abandoned his successful orchestra without warning last November, declaring he was going to Mexico to "recover his health," and that he wanted nothing further to do with "the music business," jitterbugs, autograph hounds, or the rest of the "complete morons" who had earned him between $250,000 and $400,000 a year since 1938.

Brooklyn Congressman Thomas H. Cullen says he's confident that President Roosevelt will cooperate with plans for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel project, with an application for funding for the project now pending before the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Cost of the tube is expected approach $74,000,000.

For the first time, Finland admits that Russian forces had pushed them out of positions of strategic importance on the Karelian Isthmus, but now claims that those positions have all been regained.

Secretary of State Cordell Hull has declared his opposition to any embargoes by the United States in connection with the Russo-Finnish or Japan-China wars. Invoking the Neutrality Law in these cases to halt trade is, in the words of the Secretary, "not in keeping with the State Department program."

The "protection" operation conducted by Manhattan dentist Dr. Abraham Ditchick for abortion doctors in Brooklyn, Queens, and elsewhere was well-organized, according to testimony in Dr. Ditchick's ongoing trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Miss Charlotte Fodor, receptionist for Dr. Louis I. Duke of 551 Bedford Avenue, testified that Dr. Duke performed many abortions, and that Dr. Ditchick came to the office once a month to collect a $100 payment, and to apprise them of investigations by the Medical Grievance Board. Both Miss Fodor and Dr. Duke are under indictment for manslaughter in connection with the death of a 23-year-old woman on Dr. Duke's operating table on December 9, 1938.


("BARE BORO STAG FILM RACKET -- AMEN OFFICE SEIZES REELS, ANNOUNCES GRAND JURY VIEWING")

The Chairman of the Taxpayers Federation of New York State declares that schoolteachers are "selfish" and their leaders "should be thrashed." Herbert L. Carpenter, fresh from leading demonstrations in the state capital to protest Governor Lehman's proposed budget increase for 1940, stated that demands made by teachers' organizations are "beneath contempt," but stopped short of calling his demonstrations a "Tea Party." "This is no 'tea party,'" Carpenter insisted. "We went up there in the earnest hope that the Governor would review the tax." Meanwhile, parent-teacher organizations are presenting petitions to the Governor demanding that full state aid for schools be reinstated, carrying hundreds of signatures from homeowners concerned with "economies" harming the education system.

Ladies! Win REAL LIVE MEN -- on stage tonight at the Patio, the Mayfair, and the Avalon! (And Sally looks over at Joe, snoozing with his feet in the oven, and contemplates...)

The Associated Republican Club of Kings County opened the 1940 Presidential campaign season with its annual Lincoln Day Dinner at the St. George Hotel last night, hearing US Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of Massachusetts denounce the Roosevelt Administration's foreign trade policy as "tending to involve the United States in foreign wars."

Joseph E. Davies, special aide to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, has been voted the Best Dressed Man in America by the Custom Tailors' Guild. Runners-up were Paul Whiteman, Joe DiMaggio, and Federal Social Security Director Paul V. McNutt. Grover Whalen, long a mainstay of the list, has toppled to nineteenth place.

The body of the "Scooter Lady of Flatbush" lies at the Kings County Morgue awaiting word from relatives in North Carolina, while rumors swirl about "great wealth" being hidden in her home. A police guard was posted around the ramshackle house at 331 Martense Street where 64-year-old Miss Josephine Amelia Claudius, retired school teacher, was found dead in her bed, surrounded by heaps of rags and old newspapers. Since the 1890s, Miss Claudius had been a familiar sight in Flatbush on an ancient scooter variously painted black, green, orange, brown, and red, to supplement her distinctive mode of dress which at various times incorporated bloomers, shirtwaists, and overalls. Miss Claudius attracted the notice of the police when she insisted on riding her scooter thru the hallways of the courthouse during the trial of James J. Hines, but otherwise she had largely kept to herself since her retirement from teaching in 1932.


(331 Martense Street at left. No sign of the scooter.)

Larry MacPhail says he hasn't given up on prying Max West loose from the Boston Bees in his never-ending quest for a left-handed pull-hitting outfielder who can take advantage of the short right field at Ebbets Field. Joe Vosmik, acquired this week from the Red Sox, figures also in the Dodger plans for 1940, but the club's surfeit of outfielders could also improve MacPhail's bargaining position in getting the man he really wants. MacPhail defended the Vosmik acquisition, declaring that Yankee manager Joe McCarthy told him Vosmik, who hit .276 last year, might just be "as good an outfielder as there is in the American League, and that's good enough for me!" MacPhail says Vosmik's drop from a .325 record in 1938 was the result of "bad luck" and too many line drives hit right at fielders.

Joe Louis says the reason he put up such a mangy display against Arturo Godoy last week is because he didn't want to break his hands on Godoy's head. The Bomber dismissed Godoy, who clowned his way thru much of the the bout, as "not putting up a real fight."

Louis and Godoy will give their perspectives on the fight to Gabriel Heatter on tonight's "We The People," heard at 9pm over WABC.

Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick....

Here's what you should worry about, toots -- how much can you trust Milt Lewis to keep his trap shut?

Meanwhile, out of sheer boredom, Kay has dyed her hair and had a face-lift.

And in the Daily News...


(This'll be me if I ever retire. Which I won't.)


(It'd really be neat if the cake came flying out like that, but no, you've actually got to reach into the little compartment and take it out.)

"For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?"

Where's Townsend Zander when you need him?

OK, so the title today made me laugh out loud. Milton Caniff joins the ranks of the rattle-brained hepcats.

What could possibly go wrong?

Of all the funny-paper couples of my acquaintance as of 1940, only Willie and Mamie sleep in a double bed. Isn't that romantic?

Are Senga and Leona related?

LizzieMaine said:

...The 27-year-old unwed mother accused of abandoning her baby on a Bay Ridge doorstep last week has been freed, with the charges dismissed -- but the reported father of the child will face action on paternity and seduction charges. Miss Estelle Rybicki had admitted to leaving the six-month-old boy on the doorstep of the apartment house at 344 80th Street, where the child's father lived, but told the court it was an act of desperation after she realized she was unable to care for the child and hold down a job, and after she had been shunted "back and forth" by churches and relief agencies to which she had applied for help. Miss Rybicki told the court she had only five cents left to her name when she decided to leave the baby on his father's step, believing that the father would be better able to support the child "since he can afford to go out drinking all night." Miss Rybicki's lawyer vouched for her before the court, and promised that a job was waiting for her -- and that arrangements had been made to ensure the baby would be cared for.....

Click to expand...

Been waiting for the court to finally get around to the father.

LizzieMaine said:

...Rising film star Lana Turner and renegade bandleader Artie Shaw eloped to Las Vegas early today, rousing a justice of the peace out of bed at 4 AM to perform the wedding ceremony. Miss Turner, last seen in "Dancing Co-Ed," is twenty years old and has never before been married. Mr. Shaw abandoned his successful orchestra without warning last November, declaring he was going to Mexico to "recover his health," and that he wanted nothing further to do with "the music business," jitterbugs, autograph hounds, or the rest of the "complete morons" who had earned him between $250,000 and $400,000 a year since 1938....

Click to expand...

This might have been Lana's first marriage, but she was only warming up as she had seven more to go. And, while this was Shaw's third marriage, he would tie Lana with a total of eight as well. That's sixteen marriages between the two of them for those keeping score.

LizzieMaine said:

...[
("BARE BORO STAG FILM RACKET -- AMEN OFFICE SEIZES REELS, ANNOUNCES GRAND JURY VIEWING")....

Click to expand...

LizzieMaine said:

...Joseph E. Davies, special aide to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, has been voted the Best Dressed Man in America by the Custom Tailors' Guild. Runners-up were Paul Whiteman, Joe DiMaggio, and Federal Social Security Director Paul V. McNutt. Grover Whalen, long a mainstay of the list, has toppled to nineteenth place....

Click to expand...

What happened to Cary Grant and Fred Astaire?

LizzieMaine said:

...[ Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick.....

Click to expand...

You can only twist the knife in so far until it comes out the other side.

LizzieMaine said:

... Here's what you should worry about, toots -- how much can you trust Milt Lewis to keep his trap shut?....

Click to expand...

At least she seems genuinely concerned about Mary and the others - nice to see an unselfish thought come from Leona.

LizzieMaine said:

... Meanwhile, out of sheer boredom, Kay has dyed her hair and had a face-lift.

Click to expand...

. Also, this is seriously insane - open the door and shoot the tramp. It truly feels like 1960's Batman TV strategy.

LizzieMaine said:

...
(It'd really be neat if the cake came flying out like that, but no, you've actually got to reach into the little compartment and take it out.)...

Click to expand...

Kudos to The Boys and the illustrator, even though it's a fuzzy newsprint drawing and it's 80 years later, if an H&H was nearby, I'd be sneaking out later to get a piece of cake. (I live 16 blocks north of the last H&H to close in the city).

LizzieMaine said:

... "For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?"....

Click to expand...

Best strip going right now.

LizzieMaine said:

Where's Townsend Zander when you need him?...

Click to expand...

$50,000 in 1940 = ~$900,000 in 2020.

LizzieMaine said:

... What could possibly go wrong?...

Click to expand...

"Look - Asleep! The first stage of that tropic disease." That proves it because babies rarely just fall asleep.

LizzieMaine said:

... Of all the funny-paper couples of my acquaintance as of 1940, only Willie and Mamie sleep in a double bed. Isn't that romantic?....

Click to expand...

I'm sure his wife is thinking there's nothing sexier than a man smoking a cigar and then climbing into bed.

LizzieMaine said:

... Are Senga and Leona related?

Click to expand...

Things could change, but right now, Leona's looking like the better of the two (and she's cuter).

Finland today acknowledged for the first time that "a few key positions" along the Mannerheim Line have been lost to Russian advances over the course of a "thundering 14-day battle" on the war-scarred Karelian Isthmus, a battle the Finns have likened to the World War Battle of Verdun. A Finnish Army communique insists, however, that the Russian advance has not penetrated as far as Finland's advance posts, and claims that the Soviets have lost "thousands of dead" and "hundreds of tanks" in their current drive.

German submarines have a right to torpedo United States ships en route to Allied ports or contraband control stations, either voluntarily or by compulsion, according to a statement issued today by an authorized Nazi spokesman. The spokesman further stated that whether or not such attacks occur depends on "individual circumstances." The German attitude on the issue threatens to involve the United States, already aroused by British inspection of US mail going to neutral countries, in a new dispute over the rules of warfare on the high seas.

Blinding snow whipped by gale-force winds lashed the city today in a storm extending over the entire Northeastern United States. Snowfall as high as 24 inches is expected in some areas. In New York City, scores of people were injured in falls on ice-coated streets as they attempted to buck the howling winds, and traffic movement was hampered thruout the city. Electricity service was lost in the seashore community of Broad Channel when poles of the New York and Queens Light and Power Company were blown down along Cross Bay Boulevard, and company officials say there is little hope that power will be restored to that section anytime today.

Braving the ice and high winds, two policemen formed a "human chain" to rescue an elderly woman from a Coney Island window ledge where she was attempting to commit suicide. Radio patrolmen Michael Birmingham and Frank Beltry reported to the scene after a tenant at 2620 Voorhies Avenue reported that the woman was climbing out a third-floor window in the building, dressed only in a housedress and a thin coat. The patrolmen found 75-year-old Miss Mary Anna Murphy perched on an ice-covered ledge outside her furnished room, and Beltry climbed out the window while Birmingham held his ankles in order to pull her back to safety. Miss Murphy declared that she was "tired of living. I have no friends and nobody wants me." She was taken to Coney Island Hospital for treatment, and subsequently transferred to Bellevue Hospital for observation.

Dr. Abraham Ditchick was known far and wide as "the man to see" when it came to matters before the Medical Grievance Board, or in getting matters to be taken up by that board. Such were the claims made today in the Manhattan dentist's trial on bribery and extorition charges in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Mrs. Lillian Corrigan Siegel of Manhattan, a registered nurse, testified today that she got the assistance of Dr. Ditchick in lodging a complaint before the board against her employer, Dr. Frederick Henschel of Manhattan, on an issue of non-payment of $406 in wages due her. Mrs. Siegel was also an employee of Dr. Louis I. Duke, Brooklyn abortion doctor, and she testified that Dr. Ditchick was a frequent visitor to Dr. Duke's Bedford Avenue office, and was also known to associate socially with Dr. Duke, often in the company of his wife. Also testifying today was Andrew Duke, Dr. Duke's brother, who testified that Dr. Ditchick had demanded a "Christmas Present" from Dr. Duke to make up the difference between what Dr. Duke paid him and what Dr. Ditchick received from other doctors. Mr. Duke stated that Dr. Ditchick had demanded a "present" of $1000 in 1937, but had received only $750.

The Lyndhurst, New Jersey woman who sued a Manhattan beauty shop and the manufacturers of the permanent-waving equipment and supplies used in the shop for damages after she was severely burned while receiving a hair treatment has been awarded $13,000 in damages. An all-male jury ruled in favor of Mrs. Matilda L. Kempf in her claims against the manufacturers, but exonerated Lena's Beauty Shop, 129 Fulton Street, of any guilt after witnessing a courtroom demonstration of waving technique by the shop's proprietor.


(A&S has a proud reputation as Brooklyn's finest and most elegant department store. And yet it's also The Place To Go for cheese corn. I wonder if they carry pickled eggs at the "Priscilla Food Shop?")

The owner of a Bushwick brewery testified today that four men swindled him out of $2415 in a crooked card game. Edward B. Hittleman, president of the Edelbrau Brewing Company, took the stand in the case against Jacob Baum, Samuel Epstein, Saul Levitt, and Irving Taub, stating that the four had approached him pretending interest in purchasing property he owned in Rockaway. The men invted Hittleman to join them in a card game, where Hittleman lost $2300, and became suspicious. Hittleman notified police of another upcoming game, where he lost $115 before police raided the house and discovered the suspects in possession of marked cards.

George Abbott's production of Ayn Rand's new play "The Unconquered" opened last night on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, and Arthur Pollock found it "clumsy" in its story of romance in early Bolshevik Russia between a "natty young member of the OGPU" and a "choosy young woman" who romanced the idealistic OGPU agent to get the money she needed to send her true love, an aristocrat, for treatment for tuberculosis, only to have the aristocrat "ditch her" in the end, and the OGPU man is killed. "All of this undoubtedly is meant to prove something," observes Mr. Pollock, but the meaning is obscured by the "slow-moving uninspired soup" of the play itself.

"His Girl Friday" will be held over for a second week at the Brooklyn Fox, with a new co-feature, "All Women Have Secrets," starring Jeanne Cagney.

Now at the Patio, the Lane Sisters headline in "Four Wives," along with "Smashing The Money Ring," with Ronald Reagan and Margot Stevenson.

Should you take the cellophane off lamp shades, or leave it on? Helen Worth finds there are two minds on the matter, but she is inclined to say take it off. After all, if you leave the lamp shades wrapped, there's probably a lot of other things in your house that you could keep wrapped as well.

Herman J. Greenberg writes in to the Editor to call Franklin D. Roosevelt the greatest American since Lincoln, since he has added a "second Emancipation Proclamation" thru the establishment of "permanent social legislation for all Americans." So yes, by all means, a third term.

(World-famous opera stars give records to a random couple from Brooklyn. OK, that's a good setup for a rom-com, but what happens next?)

(One man short of having four complete outfields to choose from. Shoulda held onto Rosen.)

Well, now. Won't this just be the social event of the season.

Both knowing too much, Bill and Leona flee for their lives in a dry-cleaning truck. They make it as far as Paramus, New Jersey before running out of gas, and they have to hoof it from then on. "At least I've still got my mink," thinks Leona sadly, as her ankle sinks into a puddle of icy muck.

Ah, now, maybe a little Face Eating Dog action will pep up the story. "NO WOLF! GET DOWN! I'M DAN! I'M DAN! AGGGGGGH!"

Meanwhile, in the Daily News...


Happy Valentine's Day!


Tony likes to say "rag."

Are there any *honest* nightclubs? No. No there aren't.

Recent X-rays of Mr. Benjamin Gump show a pipe-cleaner where his spine should be.

What's in the bundle? Another baby?

Well, make sure you keep an eye on it.

Today is Skeezix's 19th birthday -- and the folks back home sent him a cake. And now his life is full of friends.

C'mon Pat, you're usually smarter than this.

Hey, he's not a bad loan risk at that -- you know he'll never be able to skip town on a story like that...

Harold's 19th birthday is still some months off, but he's going to be an old, old man by the time Senga gets done with him.

LizzieMaine said:

...
(A&S has a proud reputation as Brooklyn's finest and most elegant department store. And yet it's also The Place To Go for cheese corn. I wonder if they carry pickled eggs at the "Priscilla Food Shop?")...

Click to expand...

When I first moved to NYC in the '80s, Macy's, in particular, had an extensive food department with an incredible selection of imported and not-commonly-available foods from all over the world - both fresh and dry goods. Lord and Taylor had a decent selection of package / dry goods, but it was nothing compared to Macy's. It's almost hard to remember now, but some departments stores, even into the '80s, were still pretty impressive stores before the internet.

LizzieMaine said:

...George Abbott's production of Ayn Rand's new play "The Unconquered" opened last night on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, and Arthur Pollock found it "clumsy" in its story of romance in early Bolshevik Russia between a "natty young member of the OGPU" and a "choosy young woman" who romanced the idealistic OGPU agent to get the money she needed to send her true love, an aristocrat, for treatment for tuberculosis, only to have the aristocrat "ditch her" in the end, and the OGPU man is killed. "All of this undoubtedly is meant to prove something," observes Mr. Pollock, but the meaning is obscured by the "slow-moving uninspired soup" of the play itself....

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It's been so long since I've read an Ayn Rand biography, that I'm sure I knew about this play at one point, but have no memory of it now. I remember enjoying the book, but as with her more-well-known works, they are dense stories that are hard to boil down to two-hours plays or movies.

LizzieMaine said:

..."His Girl Friday" will be held over for a second week at the Brooklyn Fox, with a new co-feature, "All Women Have Secrets," starring Jeanne Cagney....

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Clearly Brooklynites know a good movie when they see one.

LizzieMaine said:

... Well, now. Won't this just be the social event of the season....

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1. They could have tried to have been a bit subtler and nicer to Jo and George in the buttering-up phase and 2. Wallingford and Hortynse, really?

LizzieMaine said:

... Both knowing too much, Bill and Leona flee for their lives in a dry-cleaning truck. They make it as far as Paramus, New Jersey before running out of gas, and they have to hoof it from then on. "At least I've still got my mink," thinks Leona sadly, as her ankle sinks into a puddle of icy muck....

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Hock the fur!

LizzieMaine said:

... Ah, now, maybe a little Face Eating Dog action will pep up the story. "NO WOLF! GET DOWN! I'M DAN! I'M DAN! AGGGGGGH!"

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Oh for God's sake, just give me a gun and I'll go in and shoot Dunn.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Happy Valentine's Day!...

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The "test" dog's gotta be thinking "what the heck!"

LizzieMaine said:

... Are there any *honest* nightclubs? No. No there aren't....

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If she gets a little more experience with The Club Buccaneer, Leona will be able to leave "Mary Worth" and get a job with "Little Orphan Annie." I think we've finally found her future career.

LizzieMaine said:

... Recent X-rays of Mr. Benjamin Gump show a pipe-cleaner where his spine should be.....

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Exactly. From what you've showed us about her background, she's all blow; in the end, if Gump says no to her, she's got nothing to push back with.

LizzieMaine said:

... C'mon Pat, you're usually smarter than this.....

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Think Pat, think!