The Era -- Day By Day

Baghdad has fallen to British forces, according to a report from Cairo, and London has announced that the Iraqi government has requested a formal armistice with Great Britain. The announcements come following a night of fierce fighting between British forces and troops loyal to pro-Nazi Iraqi Premier Rashid Ali, with control of Iraq's vast oil supplies at stake. It is reported in London that Rashad and leading members of his government, along with the German and Italian ambassadors, all fled the capital city as British forces pounded at its gates.

The Nazi High Command reported today that German forces now control virtually all strategic points in Crete, and are "hammering relentlessly in pursuit of the beaten enemy." Luftwaffe bombers were reported today to be pounding British troop concentrations making for the ports of Southern Crete, possibly to prepare for evacuation.

Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes was appointed today the virtual dictator of the entire United States oil industry, as President Roosevelt continued implementation of his unlimited national emergency defense programs. Mr. Ickes will serve as Petroleum Coordinator for National Defense, with full authority to ensure that defense needs are fully prioritized and supplied by America's $10,000,000,000-a-year oil industry. At a press conference earlier this week, Mr. Ickes suggested that drastic oil conservation measures to ensure an adequate supply for defense needs are being considered, and the President, in a letter to Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn indicated that petroleum rationing along the East Coast is "a distinct possibility."

Three bandits attempting safecracking on a wholesale scale were frightened off today with only $150 in loot when a watchman broke free of his bonds. The robbers succeeded in opening two of four safes in the office of the Long Island Coat, Apron, and Towel Supply Company at 48 Eagle Street in Greenpoint, after having waylaid and beaten the watchman, 55-year-old Louis Silverman of 602 Georgia Avenue. With Silverman tied to a bench in the basement and gagged, the bandits set to work on the safes, but the watchman managed to roll over the bench, causing a loud clatter that startled the robbers into running away. As soon as Silverman managed to work loose of the ropes, he telephoned the police. The two unopened safes contained more than $1000.

The director of LaGuardia Field denies reports that pilots at the airport have organized a "Copperheads Club" in support of the views of Charles A. Lindbergh. Major Elmer Haslett maintained today that all the pilots at the field are "100 percent behind the President," and advised Lindbergh to abandon politics and focus on aviation.

G-Men in Andover, New Jersey will grill a suspect arrested today at Camp Nordland, number 1 Eastern camp of the German-American Bund, after he attempted to destroy a letter described as "very important." 38-year-old Paul Huissel, described as a toolmaker from Poughkeepsie, was seized by county sherrif Denton Quick and a group of American Legionnaires deputized for the raid on the camp and turned over to Federal agents along with a quantity of Nazi literature, swastika flags, and pictures of Hitler. About a hundred persons who had gathered at the camp for the holiday weekend, most of them women and children were dispersed by the raiders.

(Civil War veterans are to 1941 exactly as WWII veterans are to 2021. Disturbing, isn't it?)

Reader P. G. writes in to Dr. Brady's Column, asking what he means when he says "it's stupid to have piles." The good Doctor advises P. G. to send a 3 cent stamp and ask for his monograph, "It's Stupid To Have Piles."

(Helen Worth, he ain't.)

The Eagle Editorialist praises Federal authorities for taking action against German agent Dr. Kurt Heinrich Reith, and hopes that it marks the start of "a forceful new policy of cracking down against foreign agents here."


(At Mr. Cashmore's office, the Borough President crumples the paper in frustration. "Call Margie Hart," he grumbles to his secretary. "Tell her next year is all off.")


(Fedora Lounge member Baldguy1941 is deeply offended by this cartoon.)


(When your whole act is built around looking like Shirley Temple you've got to get what you can while you can.)

100,000 children from local churches and Sunday Schools will march next Thursday to mark the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Brooklyn Sunday School Union, under the theme "Christ, the Light Of The World."

(And aside to "Old Timer" -- no half-clad prancing women are scheduled to appear. Schedules are subject to change without notice.)

("Ha!" says Joe. "HAH!" adds Sally. Have a nice summer, Mr. Terry!)


This is still not quite the all-time-highest record for a single broadcast, which still belongs to King Edward's Abdication Speech in 1936, which may have been heard by 150,000,000 people around the world, but it's the most-listened-to American-originated broadcast. So far.

Leo Durocher will be his lippy self next Wednesday when he is the guest star on Fred Allen's hour over WABC. Leo will match wits with Mr. Allen in an exchange expected to reveal what umpires in the National League already know about Mr. Durocher's skill at verbal give-and-take.


(No problem, Slappy, just kick yourself in the face.)


(Just like that.)


(And join us tomorrow for the exciting new strip -- MARY WORTH, LOBBYIST!)


(In the millennium or so that English has existed as a modern language, this is the first time the sentence "Why should you worry about his egg problem, Kay?" was ever assembled. I suspect when I wrote it just now there was only the second.)

And in the Daily News...


Well, is she a blonde or a redhead? MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. And Neighbors kid, be careful for what you ask for. I was just like you and look how I ended up.


("Undt no, I am not fightink Louis again.")


(For me it was January to September 1986, when our local unemployment rate was in the mid-20s, and I was ready to do just about anything. Spent two months stripping plates in a print shop, and then spent a year on the production line in a t-shirt factory until I found another radio job. I do not remember this period with any fondness, but I did like that they had $100,000 Bars in the vending machine at the factory. One must always look for a bright side.)


Don't give him any ideas.


Out in Minnesota, nineteen-year-old Sparky Schulz reads today's "Gumps" and becomes transfixed by the pattern on Andy's vase.

"Kid, this is a secured, sterile area. C'mon, I'm gonna have to boil you."


A milk racket? That's been done.


Haystack? Who needs a haystack?


I'm not a big fan of self-adhesive stamps versus the gummed kind, but they do prevent such scenes as this.

Didn't make it to California, huh?

LizzieMaine said:

...Three bandits attempting safecracking on a wholesale scale were frightened off today with only $150 in loot when a watchman broke free of his bonds. The robbers succeeded in opening two of four safes in the office of the Long Island Coat, Apron, and Towel Supply Company at 48 Eagle Street in Greenpoint, after having waylaid and beaten the watchman, 55-year-old Louis Silverman of 602 Georgia Avenue. With Silverman tied to a bench in the basement and gagged, the bandits set to work on the safes, but the watchman managed to roll over the bench, causing a loud clatter that startled the robbers into running away. As soon as Silverman managed to work loose of the ropes, he telephoned the police. The two unopened safes contained more than $1000....

Click to expand...

Oooh, a wholesale safe-cracking ring. I see a future Dan Dunn (once he gets his memory back) or Dick Tracy storyline.

LizzieMaine said:

...
(Just like that.)...

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Isn't it about time we find out the money isn't real?

LizzieMaine said:

...
(In the millennium or so that English has existed as a modern language, this is the first time the sentence "Why should you worry about his egg problem, Kay?" was ever assembled. I suspect when I wrote it just now there was only the second.)

Click to expand...

Well, I guess Irwin is good for something.

If this goes on much longer, Kay is going to shoot Irwin. She doesn't have Dan's patients.

I'm enjoying Kay in the role more than Dan.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Well, is she a blonde or a redhead? MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. And Neighbors kid, be careful for what you ask for. I was just like you and look how I ended up....

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Yeh, the blonde-red head connect was a bit of a stretch.

Our young Lutheran was three decades too early. In the '70s and '80s, all the vices were practiced out in the open in NYC. In those years, you saw drug dealing, prostitution (literally the prostitute and John in the act), gambling, general thuggery, street hustling, etc., all the time, in broad daylight and in many parts of the city. Looking back, those two decades really were something.

LizzieMaine said:

...[
("Undt no, I am not fightink Louis again.")...

Click to expand...

LizzieMaine said:

...
(For me it was January to September 1986, when our local unemployment rate was in the mid-20s, and I was ready to do just about anything. Spent two months stripping plates in a print shop, and then spent a year on the production line in a t-shirt factory until I found another radio job. I do not remember this period with any fondness, but I did like that they had $100,000 Bars in the vending machine at the factory. One must always look for a bright side.)..

Click to expand...

It's hard to fully appreciate the number of young attractive women that come to New York City every year looking for work as models, to this day, and, clearly, back in the '40s. It's no surprise that a large number of them don't find work even though, they hear all the time, "you should be a model," because they are that pretty. Supply and demand.

"It's too hot and too pleasant out-of-doors to work now. I'll wait for disagreeable weather." I always wonder about these people - who supports them when they aren't working? I doubt she's independently wealthy if, when she does work, she is a check-room girl.

LizzieMaine said:

... ...

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Well now, that was a good little twist.

I guess Miss Reichenbach never got over to Brownsville. Hey, be sure to stop in at that candy store across from the People's Theatre. If you really want a good time, tell 'em "Kid Twist" sent you.

Germany last night declared the conquest of Crete, following twelve days of fierce air and land battles between German and Allied forces which ended with the British being driven to the fringes of the narrow eastern Mediterranean Sea. Nazi sources were confident last night that the British will be unsuccessful in accomplishing another Dunkirk-style evacuation in withdrawing their forces by sea as the Luftwaffe continued to blast at surviving British columns attempting to make their way to the coast. British sources do not confirm the German claims that an evacuation is already being attempted, stating only that British forces are taking up defensive positions at the island's narrow waist.

An armistice on "liberal terms" between British and Iraqi forces was reported by sources in Vichy to have been signed yesterday. Terms were not disclosed, but were said to be "generous" to Iraqi "rebels."


(POSITIVELY NOT A PUBLICITY STUNT. Also, nothing happened.)

Flames swept across the Jersey City waterfront last night, in a spectacular blaze that destroyed a seven-story grain elevator belonging to the Erie Railroad. Huge tongues of orange flame and billowing clouds of black smoke were visible in the sky from Downtown Brooklyn as the fire raged. At least two square blocks of property were said to have been left in ruins by the fire, which "taxed the capabilities of the Jersey City Fire Department."

Rear Admiral Edward J. Marquart arrived today to take his position as the new commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The new commanding officer arrived quietly, in civilian dress, and left immediately for Manhattan, where they will be quartered until a residence is prepared for them at the Yard. The Admiral declined to discuss world affairs with reporters as he detrained, but noted that the Yard is "one of the most important" naval reservations in the country -- and that, as a young lieutenant, he served in Brooklyn between 1910 and 1912.

Our fast-moving Dodgers made a clean sweep of the New York Giants, closing out their three game series at the Polo Grounds with a 5-2 win over Carl Hubbell. Joe Medwick returned to form, leading the attack with a home run, a triple, and a single. The win yesterday leaves the Flock just one game behind the Cardinals, who lost to the Reds yesterday before heading on to Brooklyn and the start of a vital series against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

A 19-year-old Brooklyn youth attending Harvard University was poisoned by an overdose of sleeping pills, according to his mother, who says the boy "had not been sleeping well lately. Martin C. Johnson, a sophomore, and the son of the well-known Dr. Louis C. Johnson, insulin pioneer, was taken to a Boston hospital after collapsing in his dormitory room Saturday night.

A group of 117 American survivors of the sunken Egyptian liner Zamzam boarded a train today for Portugal from San Sebastian, Spain. The group did not include twenty-one Americans who had volunteered for service as ambulance drivers, and are being held by the Germans at Biarritz.

Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen says he will not be a candidate to succeed Thomas E. Dewey as Manhattan District Attorney, should Dewey decide to step down at the expiration of his present term. Amen, an independent Democrat, is a resident of Manhattan, and has been boosted in Fusion circles as a likely successor to Dewey, who is expected to run again for governor on the Republican ticket next year.

Meanwhile, Fusion groups working vigorously to promote a third term for Mayor LaGuardia should he decide to run are facing resistance to efforts to enter the Mayor in the Democratic city primary. Other Fusion factions remain convinced that the coalition of Republican, American Laborites, and independent voters who put the Mayor in office in 1933 and 1937 will remain sufficient to do the job this year, and that attempting to run LaGuardia on the Democratic ticket as well could imperil Fusion control of the Board of Estimate by triggering primary fights for the offices of Controller, City Council President, and the Borough Presidencies in which Democratic candidates would be likely to win.

New Utrecht High School in Bensonhurst will celebrate its 25th Anniversary this week, with a series of special events, historic pageants, and a music festival, with the pageants to be presented Tuesday and Wednesday, and the music festival, which will be presented Friday and Saturday evenings at 6 PM.

("I was gonna play 'Yes We Have No Bananas' onna saxaphone," sighs Joe, "But t'en I remembered I hocked it to buy t'em tickets offa Solly." "Whassatgotta do wit' New Utrick?" asks Sally. "Well, nutt'n really, iss t'on'y t'ing I know howta play. BUT I PLAY IT GOOD!")

A report by the medical division of the New York Selective Service System concludes that men over the age of 25 are at greater risk of "physical defects" sufficient to bar them from military service. The report also notes that the defects frequently encountered in men between the ages of 18 and 25 tend to be far more remediable than those found in older men.

The Eagle Editorialist praises the County Court and District Attorney's office for dismissing all charges against the high school girl accused of setting her family's apartment on fire because she was ashamed of the furniture. "Anyone who remembers his or her own youth must sympathize with an intelligent girl whose sensitive nature caused her to brood on things that loom as tragedies in the teens," he declares. "No good would have been done to her, or society, had she been punished."


("Whassa cahd punch oparata?" wonders Joe. "Issa guy runs a machine," replies Sally. "Ya putcha name onna cahd, anna machine, it punches it allfulla holes an' all, annem holes, t'ey tell e'vyt'ing t'ere is ta know 'boutcha." "Go waaaaaaaaan!" exclaims Joe. "Ya makinnat up!" "I ain' neit'a," Sally insists. "You know Mildred Messigna, wenna Erasmus wit' me? 'At's what she does. Woiks at some place inna City, allday punchin' holes innem lit'l cahds. Sez t'ey got a machine c'n readdem cahds, an' tellya all ya wanna know 'bout who's cahd it is. It's scientific!" "Well," snorts Joe, "t'ey ain'no fyutcha innat. An' whozgonna sweep up allem lit'l pieces a' paypa t'at gets punched outa t'em holes? I ask ya!")

Old Timer Joseph Stadtmuller of Williamsburg remembers growing up in the shadow of the old soap factory on Graham Avenue, and how he had a Saturday job there, cleaning up the chips and chunks of waste. "We never had to buy soap!" he proudly declares.


(Joe really wishes he hadn't hocked his saxophone now, because today's game is going to be something.)

Another outstanding Negro National League squad invades Dexter Park this afternoon as the Newark Eagles face the Bushwicks. The Eagles haven't played in Woodhaven in three years, and the matchup is highly anticipated.


(And did they plan to have an Admiral named "raider," or did it just turn out that way?)

The King of the Hoboes has issued a call to all the gentlemen of the road to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of national defense. Jeff Davis, who holds the office of King in the League of Hoboes of the World, Inc., declared this week that he's ordering all 1,013,000 men under his dominion off the road for the duration of the war, in order to reduce the risk of railroad accidents that may harm national defense production and transportation. King Davis expects word of his order to have sifted down to every hobo jungle in America within the next two weeks. "And then," he says, "maybe we'll clean up the REAL bums."

If you go see "The Devil and Miss Jones" at the RKO Albee, you might think you see someone you know -- but don't be fooled. Director Sam Wood went out of his way to find extras resembling "average looking New Yorkers" for the crowd scenes representing Coney Island, but those scenes were shot in Hollywood.

(I always like it when somebody hisses "Traitorous Son of a Dog!" and I'm disappointed we don't get it here.)

(Who's been goaded all his life by kids in the street chanting "TONY CALONIE HE'S FULL OF BALONEY!" He'll show them! He'll SHOW THEM ALL!)

(It works better when you put on a Napoleon hat, stick your hand in your coat, and skitter your feet around with your eyes crossed and your tongue hanging out. Yeah, like that.)

(Today's strips are brought to you by the American Egg Board.)

(When it comes to trolling, nobody can top a cat. Unless it's four cats.)

(I bet they don't laugh in the Lone Ranger's face.)

And in the Daily News...

There's enough here to keep the Warner Bros. B-picture unit running for weeks.

I don't go to cocktail parties, but that's OK, we get every one of these folks at the theatre.

SLOT MACHINES! SUMMON THE MAYOR!


And just what is YOUR angle, Colonel? Everybody's got one.

Annie's sick of everybody's crap today. And a sincere laugh-out-loud at "Maw Green" -- Sweeney Todd gets around.

When it comes to comic-strip billionaires, Warbucks talks and talks and talks, takes a breath, and talks some more -- but bigawd, UNCLE BIM GETS IT DONE.


Pffft. Nick Gatt would step on this guy like a bug.

Poor Shadow. Thrown over for Johnny Arthur.


That bird book Mr. King got for Christmas is paying dividends.

Didn't I see Edgar Kennedy and Florence Lake do this same bit in a two-reeler?

The colonel is Corps of Engineers, US Army, and his angle is a regular army right angle with forty-five* stance.
A soldier from bore to butteplate, drinks coffee and pisses rifle bore cleaner.
Surprised he hasn't yet made a move on Delilah.

LizzieMaine said:

..
(POSITIVELY NOT A PUBLICITY STUNT. Also, nothing happened.)...

Click to expand...

As in "nothing happened" between Dude and Raven Sherman. Just checked on IMBD, Hayden Sterling, back in '41, was spelling his name Stirling - it looks funny the way.

LizzieMaine said:

...Meanwhile, Fusion groups working vigorously to promote a third term for Mayor LaGuardia should he decide to run are facing resistance to efforts to enter the Mayor in the Democratic city primary. Other Fusion factions remain convinced that the coalition of Republican, American Laborites, and independent voters who put the Mayor in office in 1933 and 1937 will remain sufficient to do the job this year, and that attempting to run LaGuardia on the Democratic ticket as well could imperil Fusion control of the Board of Estimate by triggering primary fights for the offices of Controller, City Council President, and the Borough Presidencies in which Democratic candidates would be likely to win....

Click to expand...

And a look inside the sausage factory of democracy.

LizzieMaine said:

...The Eagle Editorialist praises the County Court and District Attorney's office for dismissing all charges against the high school girl accused of setting her family's apartment on fire because she was ashamed of the furniture. "Anyone who remembers his or her own youth must sympathize with an intelligent girl whose sensitive nature caused her to brood on things that loom as tragedies in the teens," he declares. "No good would have been done to her, or society, had she been punished."...

Click to expand...

Agreed, the answer isn't punishment, but it isn't dismissing it as normal teen behavior as most teens don't set fire to the things they don't like. This young girl needs psychiatric help.

LizzieMaine said:

... (I always like it when somebody hisses "Traitorous Son of a Dog!" and I'm disappointed we don't get it here.)...

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Some not-coincidental "you may recall what German guarantees have been worth in the past" parallels. As you say all the time, Lizzie, stories are written for their times.

LizzieMaine said:

... (It works better when you put on a Napoleon hat, stick your hand in your coat, and skitter your feet around with your eyes crossed and your tongue hanging out. Yeah, like that.)...

Click to expand...

He might want to study his history a little more, too.

LizzieMaine said:

... (Today's strips are brought to you by the American Egg Board.)...

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Panel 3 as original written: "Irwin, do be careful, you're such an idiot. Oh, and how are you going to screw it up?"

LizzieMaine said:

...A There's enough here to keep the Warner Bros. B-picture unit running for weeks....

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You beat me to that line, Lizzie.

LizzieMaine said:

...
And just what is YOUR angle, Colonel? Everybody's got one....

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I'm leaning toward him being a good guy, but Caniff is cagey.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Pffft. Nick Gatt would step on this guy like a bug....

Click to expand...

"Yes, I would, Lizzie, thank you, but I'm not even negotiating with 'Smilin' Jack'."

Harp said:

The colonel is Corps of Engineers, US Army, and his angle is a regular army right angle with forty-five* stance.
A soldier from bore to butteplate, drinks coffee and pisses rifle bore cleaner.
Surprised he hasn't yet made a move on Delilah.

Click to expand...

Welcome back, hope you had a nice holiday weekend. Make sure you check out the "Terry and the Pirates" strips from the past few days, I think you'll be pleased.

My father was part of the British forces and Iraqi Levies, combined force known as PAIFORCE (Persia and Iraq Force) after the British re- conquest of Iraq.

My dad grew up in Baghdad as his family were involved with the British colonial government for decades. His mum and grandfather were both Baghdad born and raised British subjects. He and Gran moved to England about 1935, my dad then being 14.

As my dad spoke fluent Arabic, he was sent to PAIFORCE as aide to an officer after his North Africa campaign. He had to make a report to a local British official, and on greeting him with "it has been a while, how have you been"?, he having known the man from childhood as his grandfather worked for the man, the official was taken aback. Seeing young Master Paddy Raleigh in uniform as Sgt Raleigh was a surprise!

My dad's tenure in Iraq ended when he was sent to the Italian campaign with PAIFORCE (and then to Greece), but he did get to visit his three aunts and one uncle still in Baghdad.

He served in Iraq at Basra, Mosul, and RAF station Habiniya as well as HQ in Baghdad.

LizzieMaine said:

Baghdad has fallen to British forces, according to a report from Cairo, and London has announced that the Iraqi government has requested a formal armistice with Great Britain. The announcements come following a night of fierce fighting between British forces and troops loyal to pro-Nazi Iraqi Premier Rashid Ali, with control of Iraq's vast oil supplies at stake. It is reported in London that Rashad and leading members of his government, along with the German and Italian ambassadors, all fled the capital city as British forces pounded at its gates.

The Nazi High Command reported today that German forces now control virtually all strategic points in Crete, and are "hammering relentlessly in pursuit of the beaten enemy." Luftwaffe bombers were reported today to be pounding British troop concentrations making for the ports of Southern Crete, possibly to prepare for evacuation.

Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes was appointed today the virtual dictator of the entire United States oil industry, as President Roosevelt continued implementation of his unlimited national emergency defense programs. Mr. Ickes will serve as Petroleum Coordinator for National Defense, with full authority to ensure that defense needs are fully prioritized and supplied by America's $10,000,000,000-a-year oil industry. At a press conference earlier this week, Mr. Ickes suggested that drastic oil conservation measures to ensure an adequate supply for defense needs are being considered, and the President, in a letter to Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn indicated that petroleum rationing along the East Coast is "a distinct possibility."

Three bandits attempting safecracking on a wholesale scale were frightened off today with only $150 in loot when a watchman broke free of his bonds. The robbers succeeded in opening two of four safes in the office of the Long Island Coat, Apron, and Towel Supply Company at 48 Eagle Street in Greenpoint, after having waylaid and beaten the watchman, 55-year-old Louis Silverman of 602 Georgia Avenue. With Silverman tied to a bench in the basement and gagged, the bandits set to work on the safes, but the watchman managed to roll over the bench, causing a loud clatter that startled the robbers into running away. As soon as Silverman managed to work loose of the ropes, he telephoned the police. The two unopened safes contained more than $1000.

The director of LaGuardia Field denies reports that pilots at the airport have organized a "Copperheads Club" in support of the views of Charles A. Lindbergh. Major Elmer Haslett maintained today that all the pilots at the field are "100 percent behind the President," and advised Lindbergh to abandon politics and focus on aviation.

G-Men in Andover, New Jersey will grill a suspect arrested today at Camp Nordland, number 1 Eastern camp of the German-American Bund, after he attempted to destroy a letter described as "very important." 38-year-old Paul Huissel, described as a toolmaker from Poughkeepsie, was seized by county sherrif Denton Quick and a group of American Legionnaires deputized for the raid on the camp and turned over to Federal agents along with a quantity of Nazi literature, swastika flags, and pictures of Hitler. About a hundred persons who had gathered at the camp for the holiday weekend, most of them women and children were dispersed by the raiders.

View attachment 338568 (Civil War veterans are to 1941 exactly as WWII veterans are to 2021. Disturbing, isn't it?)

Reader P. G. writes in to Dr. Brady's Column, asking what he means when he says "it's stupid to have piles." The good Doctor advises P. G. to send a 3 cent stamp and ask for his monograph, "It's Stupid To Have Piles."

(Helen Worth, he ain't.)

The Eagle Editorialist praises Federal authorities for taking action against German agent Dr. Kurt Heinrich Reith, and hopes that it marks the start of "a forceful new policy of cracking down against foreign agents here."

View attachment 338569
(At Mr. Cashmore's office, the Borough President crumples the paper in frustration. "Call Margie Hart," he grumbles to his secretary. "Tell her next year is all off.")

View attachment 338570
(Fedora Lounge member Baldguy1941 is deeply offended by this cartoon.)

View attachment 338571
(When your whole act is built around looking like Shirley Temple you've got to get what you can while you can.)

100,000 children from local churches and Sunday Schools will march next Thursday to mark the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Brooklyn Sunday School Union, under the theme "Christ, the Light Of The World."

(And aside to "Old Timer" -- no half-clad prancing women are scheduled to appear. Schedules are subject to change without notice.)

View attachment 338573 ("Ha!" says Joe. "HAH!" adds Sally. Have a nice summer, Mr. Terry!)

View attachment 338575
This is still not quite the all-time-highest record for a single broadcast, which still belongs to King Edward's Abdication Speech in 1936, which may have been heard by 150,000,000 people around the world, but it's the most-listened-to American-originated broadcast. So far.

Leo Durocher will be his lippy self next Wednesday when he is the guest star on Fred Allen's hour over WABC. Leo will match wits with Mr. Allen in an exchange expected to reveal what umpires in the National League already know about Mr. Durocher's skill at verbal give-and-take.

View attachment 338576
(No problem, Slappy, just kick yourself in the face.)

View attachment 338577
(Just like that.)

View attachment 338578
(And join us tomorrow for the exciting new strip -- MARY WORTH, LOBBYIST!)

View attachment 338579
(In the millennium or so that English has existed as a modern language, this is the first time the sentence "Why should you worry about his egg problem, Kay?" was ever assembled. I suspect when I wrote it just now there was only the second.)

Click to expand...

^^^^Caniff relaxed his editorial grip a bit. Nice touch, like a trench coat belted at the back
with the just the right amount of rumple....

You just knew that Shadow was in way above his pay grade. It was just a matter of time before reality caught up with the squirt.

It's for the best. He would have ended up diabetic.

Nazi Germany today announced the complete subjugation of Crete and the termination of hostilities there, marking Britain's greatest defeat since the start of the war. Three thousand additional prisoners were taken when German Alpine troops smashed the last remaining British stronghold in the mountains north of Sphakion. The latest figures released by the German High Command brought to at least 13,000 the number of British troops held captive by the Nazi conquerors of the strategic Mediterranean island.

President Roosevelt today officially placed the vast industrial production of the United States on a war basis, signing a mandatory priorities bill giving the Federal Government full authority to subordinate all civilian production needs to those of war production. Previously, priorities could be applied only to specific Army and Navy contracts, but under the new law, priorities apply to all companies filling orders for democracies accepting Lend-Lease aid, to all government agencies, and to all civilian production which the Government may deem of greater priority than military needs. The law requires all industry in the United States to produce, as first priority, whatever Federal authorities may tell it to produce, with no recourse to protest.

A survey conducted by the United Press concludes that, while the U. S. Navy is ready for war, the U. S. Army will need at least another year to reach full preparedness. Many of the selectees now serving in the Army are still green, while up-to-date artillery and tanks are only just beginning to emerge from production lines, and few fighter planes now in service are the equal of European standards.

Fifty thousand people are expected this afternoon to witness the formal dedication of the new United States Naval Air Station at Floyd Bennett Field, as the city-owned airport is officially turned over to the U. S. Navy for the duration of the war. The new base will immediately become one of the most important military aviation installations on the Atlantic Coast.

Detectives of the Newtown precinct in Woodside are searching for a "dark skinned man with close cropped hair" who last night criminally assaulted a woman in her home, and burglarized another residence in the same section, escaping with a pocketbook containing $105 in cash. The victim of the assault, 40-year-old Miss Helen Reiman of 37-64 62nd Street, told police the man entered her bedroom around 2:45 AM, seized her around the throat, and assaulted her. Her screams as the man fled roused neighbors, who called the police. An ambulance surgeon from St. John's Hospital treated Miss Reiman for contusions about the neck and shock. It is believed that the same man broke into the home of Mr. Henry Stone, 77-15 41st Avenue, and took a pocketbook belonging to Mrs. Stone, which contained cash borrowed by the couple to "deal with pressing circumstances."

Burglars broke into a College Point defense plant over the weekend, escaping with precision tools considered vital to defense work. The robbery at the Blair Tool and Machine Corporation factory at 119-01 15th Avenue was discovered at 9 AM yesterday by a watchman making his rounds, who found a door that had been forced on the 119th Street side of the plant. Taken were micrometers, calipers, height gauges, and levels, along with quantities of .22 and .38-caliber ammunition. The firm had been subcontracting defense work for the Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation.

In Newark, New Jersey, attorneys defending Charles "The Bug" Workman against murder charges in the death of mob chieftain Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Fliegenheimer, declared today that they intend to "riddle the state's case" by introducing witnesses who will exonerate Workman and put the finger on the real killer. The attorneys refused to name the witness, indicating only that "he is coming from the West."




(1941 is shaping up to be quite a year.)

Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation say that sabotage was not a factor in the fire that tore across the Jersey City waterfront yesterday, leaving behind damage estimated at $25,000,000. Firemen remain on the scene today dousing smoldering hot spots after battling the blaze for nearly two days. Jersey City Fire Chief Frank Earle declared "it could have been caused by a discarded cigarette."


(Just be careful where you throw it.)

The "Toothpick Girl" is no longer in fashion, as present trends point to a return of the healthy, wholesome, natural type of beauty. Travis Banton, head fashion designer for 20th Century-Fox Studios, declares that the average film actress in 1941 is twelve pounds heavier than she was in 1935, and that's fine with him. Banton observes that the "completely thinned-down, emaciated girl" was "hard to clothe."

With June upon us and the hot-weather season already underway, Broadway is preparing for its summer hibernation. As of today, twenty houses remain open, with six of them home to musicals, and most of these are likely to continue thru the summer months. Not among them is "Tobacco Road," which finally closed on Saturday after a run of 3,180 performances. Actors are heading en masse for the straw-hat enclaves upstate, in New Jersey, and in New England, but comedian Danny Kaye, who will be at liberty once "Lady In The Dark" closes for the summer on June 16th, says he plans to try his hand at radio and that he already has a five or six week spot lined up on the Bing Crosby hour.


("A fool for a patient.")

Former vaudeville star Jenny Dolly, aged 48, ended her own life in Hollywood today by hanging herself from a curtain cord, in despair at the loss of her career -- and her twin sister -- as the result of an auto accident eight years ago in France. The Dolly Sisters were once a world-renowned dance team, until Rose Dolly was killed and Jenny severely injured and disfigured in the 1932 auto wreck. Miss Dolly sold her million-dollar jewel collection to pay for plastic surgery to repair her facial scars, but without her sister at her side, she was never able to resume her career.


(Reiser -- a catcher? Really, Leo? I thought you *liked* Herman Franks. Oh, and "tied for first and you're pitching KEMP WICKER?" Oh, and "Coaker Triplett" has always been one of my favorite baseball names.)

(The Male Gaze.)

(Be thankful for small favors -- it won't be long before they start cracking down on rubber hoarders.)


(If this is leading up to Mary taking on a secret identity as a costumed avenger, then I for one am really hyped.)

(You're really asking for it, Fats.)

^^^She's beautiful, reminds me of Lana. So what about keeping house?????

And in the Daily News...

BORing. Although it *is* interesting how quickly Herr Hess has dropped out of the news.


You can't tell me this skill doesn't have at least some kind of military application.


Leaving aside that a dish of ice cream would be really good right now, I'd love to see what kind of scoop you need to make it come to a point like that.

I really hope that's just steam from a hot shower, and not the Doc smoking a whole pack of cigarettes at once.

Wellllllllllllllll now....

"I knew I never should have quit that job at Sheffield Farms!"

He's a bull, all right.


Hoo boy. Tops Topper is Skeez's old high school buddy, a Kingfish-type character who's always either scheming for a fast buck, or trying to wheedle one. This will, of course, end well.


For some reason Willie has decided to have today's date tattooed on his arm, but no matter. Mamie's still got the better ink.


Besides, everybody in Covina knows that she and Poison Pembrook....oh, well, it's not for me to tell.

^^^Go for her Harold. Exercise some personal initiative ya schmuck.

LizzieMaine said:

...
President Roosevelt today officially placed the vast industrial production of the United States on a war basis, signing a mandatory priorities bill giving the Federal Government full authority to subordinate all civilian production needs to those of war production. Previously, priorities could be applied only to specific Army and Navy contracts, but under the new law, priorities apply to all companies filling orders for democracies accepting Lend-Lease aid, to all government agencies, and to all civilian production which the Government may deem of greater priority than military needs. The law requires all industry in the United States to produce, as first priority, whatever Federal authorities may tell it to produce, with no recourse to protest....

Click to expand...

Since the country hasn't declared war, I wonder if this was ever challenged in the courts? Today, my guess, it would pretty quickly wind its way to the Supreme Court.

LizzieMaine said:

...
(Just be careful where you throw it.)...

Click to expand...

I'm sure we've covered this before, but if cigarettes are healthy (according to the cigarette companies in '41), why is less nicotine a good thing?

Makes no sense, but that camel was a great advertising mascot.

LizzieMaine said:

...The "Toothpick Girl" is no longer in fashion, as present trends point to a return of the healthy, wholesome, natural type of beauty. Travis Banton, head fashion designer for 20th Century-Fox Studios, declares that the average film actress in 1941 is twelve pounds heavier than she was in 1935, and that's fine with him. Banton observes that the "completely thinned-down, emaciated girl" was "hard to clothe."...

Click to expand...

Was Mae West in both the '41 and '35 survey? Otherwise, that could skew the data.

LizzieMaine said:

...
(Reiser -- a catcher? Really, Leo? I thought you *liked* Herman Franks. Oh, and "tied for first and you're pitching KEMP WICKER?" Oh, and "Coaker Triplett" has always been one of my favorite baseball names.)...

Click to expand...

That's cause "Coaker Triplett" is a perfect comic strip name. Kinda on that subject, I liked it better when "Sparky Watts" was a baseball-themed strip. Even less tangentially related, I was very excited coming into the Memorial Day weekend that I had four Yankee games to watch - haven't done that much concentrated viewing of them in a long time. Well, they lost all four - that sucked. I want the Yankees to start sending me money to not watch their games.

LizzieMaine said:

... (You're really asking for it, Fats.)

Click to expand...

What happened here? It's as if the strip went back in time several days - Kay's already introduced the egg idea to Irwin and he already tried to get some.

If Dan doesn't show up soon, Kay is going to shoot Irwin and I, for one, would have no problems if the authorities simply look the other way. "Nope, no leads, no idea who did it, we'll let you know if we discover anything, how 'bout dem Dodgers."

LizzieMaine said:

... BORing. Although it *is* interesting how quickly Herr Hess has dropped out of the news.....

Click to expand...

It's boring because it's the "other" editor's day - the one that tries to put more news and less true crime and soap-opera stuff on the page. We have the rest of the paper for that; we turn to Page Four to find out which star is zooming which other star, whose love went so awry they had to kill their partner and what idiot playboy is getting a divorce from which gold-digger. You know, good Page Four stories.

LizzieMaine said:

...
Leaving aside that a dish of ice cream would be really good right now, I'd love to see what kind of scoop you need to make it come to a point like that...

Click to expand...

If it doesn't sell, in a few days, we should see a talking black-raspberry pie asking us to eat her.

LizzieMaine said:

... I really hope that's just steam from a hot shower, and not the Doc smoking a whole pack of cigarettes at once.....

Click to expand...

Had Annie been my father's daughter, he would have shot her by now and without a second thought for asking too many question and talking too much in general.

My Mom: What have you done?

My Dad: She was clearly broken, we'll try again.

LizzieMaine said:

... Wellllllllllllllll now........

Click to expand...

It must be deja-vu day in the comic strips; didn't we see, basically, this same reveal two days ago?

LizzieMaine said:

... "I knew I never should have quit that job at Sheffield Farms!"....

Click to expand...

LizzieMaine said:

...
Besides, everybody in Covina knows that she and Poison Pembrook....oh, well, it's not for me to tell.

Click to expand...

By the 1970s, the single goal of all the boys in high school was to be with the girls who were "fast" (not the 1970s term for them, but the same idea). That's it, you went to school to, sure, learn something, but really to try to hook up with the "fast" girls. It was a very simple objective.

Fading Fast said:

Since the country hasn't declared war, I wonder if this was ever challenged in the courts? Today, my guess, it would pretty quickly wind its way to the Supreme Court.


By the 1970s, the single goal of all the boys in high school was to be with the girls who were "fast" (not the 1970s term for them, but the same idea). That's it, you went to school to, sure, learn something, but really to try to hook up with the "fast" girls. It was a very simple objective.

Click to expand...

After the Court packing and New Deal fighting, FDR's defense production initiatives made more sense and sensibility.

Freedom's Forge is an excellent read that covers the contributions of Big Biz; especially GM's Wm Knudsen
and ship magnate Henry Kaiser in amassing the industrial manufacture capacity to achieve victory.
_____________

...we didn't have any girls in my school. Only Christian Brothers of Ireland armed with wooden boards
and razor strops. We were there to be educated, period, end of discussion.

Marshal Henri Phillipe Petain held his ministerial council in almost continuous session today to consider an "empire defense" program believed to revolve around Syria and North Africa. The Vichy Government was said to have taken decisions which were believed to call for a "single-handed defense" of Syria and Tunisia against further British attacks. The secret conferences take place as reports from Beirut, Syria indicate that French authorities there are promising that "Syria will be defended with the greatest determination" in the event of a British invasion.

The body of Lou Gehrig, baseball's iron man, will lie in state tonight from 8 to 10 PM at Christ Church in Riverdale, with private funeral services to follow at 10 AM tomorrow. The body will be cremated at Fresh Point Crematory in Middle Village. The baseball legend died last night at 10:10 at his home in the Bronx, a victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the rare disease of the spinal cord that ended his playing career two years ago. Flags on all municipal buildings in New York City will fly at half staff today in honor of Mr. Gehrig, who was appointed to the municipal parole commission by Mayor LaGuardia in October 1939.



The flag at Ebbets Field will also fly at half staff today, according to Dodger president Larry MacPhail, who announced this morning that the Brooklyn club will join with the American League in a tribute to the late Yankee star, announced from its headquarters in Chicago.

The Axis is "ready for the United States to enter the war," according to a statement today by Fascist editor and Mussolini spokesman Virginio Gayda, who declared that the Axis is "prepared to launch a new phase of the war immediately," and that "all phases of possible United States entry into the war have been considered."

A request by the Roosevelt Administration for Congress to grant to it the authority to "draft any form of personal property of any kind or character" for purposes of national defense drew accusations from political opponents of the President that he is "heading toward complete and total dictatorship" of a "communistic and socialistic" character. A bill to provide such authority was introduced today without comment by Chairman Robert Rice Reynolds (D-N. C.) of the House Military Affairs Commitee, at the specific request of the War Department, which stated that the measure has the endorsement of the Navy Department and the Office of Production Management, as well as the personal endorsement of the President.

Attorney General Robert H. Jackson was generally understood today to be President Roosevelt's choice for the position of 12th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. As successor to the venerable Justice Charles Evans Hughes the appointment if confirmed will give New Dealers effective control of all three branches of the Federal Government, and will reinforce the present majority of Roosevelt-appointed justices serving on the high court. Chief Justice Hughes, aged 79, announced his retirement yesterday for reasons of "health and age," to take effect on July 1st.

With the resignation of Chief Justice Hughes, and his likely replacement by Attorney General Jackson, the new Supreme Court term convening October 6th will see the first beardless Court since at least 1845. All Courts since that year have had at least one member who wears whiskers, but all members of the present Court save for Hughes have clean-shaven chins.

A 36-year-old Manhattan man was taken to Bellevue Hospital for observation after going berserk last night on a 2nd Avenue L train in Astoria. Calvert Sauterley of 304 W. 49th Street, "a Negro," took off his shoes and used them to smash out four windows of the car, after being awakened by trainmen when the train reached the Ditmars Boulevard terminal.


(And this is still a popular cut today -- except it doesn't cost $2.)


(Bay Ridge, sure, but don't try to hold this meeting in Bensonhurst.)

With "Tobacco Road" having finally exhaled its last, "Hellzapoppin" now stands as the longest-running show on Broadway, with the zany Olsen and Johnson revue at the Winter Garden now in its fourth year. Mr. Olsen and Mr. Johnson, however, are on hiatus from the production, having taken their antics to Hollywood, where they are committing some variation of the show to film. In their absence, Jay C. Flippen and Happy Felton carry on admirably.

The Eagle Editorialist views with concern the possibility that, with the fall of Crete, the war is about to enter a new phase. The recent meeting between Hitler and Mussolini in which the dictators are rumored to have mapped out their next moves -- factoring in the possibility of the United States entering the war -- may include discussion of "a Russian agreement to feed and fuel the Axis machine." But the biggest question mark hovers over whether Hitler will finally make his long-expected attempt to invade England -- with France, and the extent of its collaboration with Germany, expected to furnish the key to that situation.


(C'mon, Lichty, quit hanging around my neighborhood.)


(Just two years and a little more than a month since he last played, and he'd started showing symptoms about a year and a half before that.)


(Another great baseball name: Johnny Hopp. Whose nickname was, yes, I'm afraid so, was "Hippity." And if that's not enough, the Cards also have "Creepy" Crespi in the lineup. An embarrassment of riches.)

(Never mind this chicanery, I want to know more about Cecil Pryor and Dave Wright. Does Boody owe them money?)


(What you always do, George. What you always do.)

(Social Conscience Comics.)


(If Irwin plans to go to every lunchroom, diner, and cafe in town eating hardboiled eggs, he will soon discover the principle of jet propulsion.)

And in the Daily News...

Tough call on laying out this page. Hughes is the more "important" story, but Gehrig is the story more readers would have taken in the gut.

Ew. Cassini? Doesn't Miss Tierney read Page Four? And Sally is offended by today's "Neighbors."


A voice crying out in the wilderness.

What if the bump on the head had nothing to do with the kid turning out the way he did? What if it was just that he was raised by complete idiots?


"Look, I signed up to work at a dairy. Or maybe it had something to do with a diary. I dunno, I never was any good at spelling."

Andy has no friends. Andy has no friends at all.


"Um, but remember, that's *my* bed, OK?"

Who's playing whom?


Wheels within wheels within wheels.


"Give a purty" is a 19th Century ruralism derived from "give a pretty penny," so we can conclude that Mamie must come from a small farm town in the midwest and was swept off her feet forty years ago by that debonair city slicker Willie and his suave urban ways. LET'S HAVE A FLASHBACK!