The Era -- Day By Day

And how it all began...


("Whassawlliss?" wonders Joe. "No pitchas? Hey, toin ta t' funnies. I wanna see how Dan Dunn looks ridin' a hoss!" "Ain' no funnies," puzzles Sally. ""Magine 'nat. A noosepapeh wit' no funnies. Who'd read it? I ask ya!")

And in the Daily News...

What is it lately with people letting their kids climb mountains?

Mr. Hill's Page goes back a long way, first in the old New York Tribune before moving on to the News. I wonder how many of these same gags he used in 1918?


"Hey Tracy! I've been made Secret Operative No. 50! Hey! You wanna be my comedy-relief sidekick? Say "Gallopin' Goldfish," huh? Willya?"


("It would do you well to remember this, Peter LaPlata!" "Um, Bill Slagg. They call me Bill Slagg now." "Of course. You will pardon me, Mr. La...ah, Mr. Slagg...")

Aw, c'mon Chester, everybody knows a stegosaurus is a gentle plant-eater! Didn't you visit the Sinclair exhibit at the World's Fair?


You know why Shadow's so short? All those cigarettes he smokes while lying back in bed stunted his growth.


That's right, readers, take a tip from Smilin' Jack! Never monkey with things in a plane!

Six years old, and already she's dating? Jeez Walt, it really is true what they say about parents slacking off on their youngest.

Would it have killed Pat to rent a car?

When I grow up I want to be as strong as Mamie.

LizzieMaine said:

...Brooklyn's little businessmen are feeling the pinch of wartime priorities, according to a survey conducted this week by the Eagle. Among the shortages reported are clocks -- because clockmakers are devoting most of their production facilities to the production of bomb fuses; men's felt hats -- which are in short supply because of war-related reductions in imports of Australian rabbit fur used in the manufacture of felt; and women's coats -- production of which is hampered by shortages of all types of fur. Any goods made from stainless steel are almost impossible to find, including such obscure items as jewelers' saws. That shortage has therefore caused a shortage in the availability of precious and semi-precious gems, which can't be cut without those vital tools. Drugstore commodities are also on the short supply list, ranging from chemicals used behind the pharmacy counter to the usual rubber goods, adhesive tapes, first aid supplies, and similar articles sold from the front of the store....

Click to expand...

Today our economy is experiencing supply-chain disruptions for a series of reasons; clearly they had their own version of them back in '41. Everything repeats in some way.

LizzieMaine said:

...Chang the Elephant's recent rampage at the Central Park Zoo has been revealed by her keepers to have been the result of a common problem -- the mating urge. Two keepers were injured this month as Chang stomped around her enclosure, and last Tuesday, two Brooklyn boys who were jeering at the elephant were doused with water fired point-blank from her trunk. "Chang'll be okay after this month," said her keeper, as he leaned against a fence post smoking a cigarette. "I think Chang's the dumbest elephant I ever met," he continued, "but she don't forget who's kind to her."...

Click to expand...

Makes you wonder where Tootsie is.

The only difference between Chang's current behavior and Page 4 is that humans act even stupider as a result of "the mating urge."

LizzieMaine said:

... View attachment 372974
("Hah!" laughs Joe. "Didja eveh heah t'joke about t'is guy walkin' aroun' wit' a toot'brush in'niz but'nhole? 'It'sa college pin,' he says. "I went ta Pepsodent!" "Colgate," corrects Sally. "Huh?" huhs Joe. "He wenta Colgate," explains Sally with an eye-roll. "See, 'at'sa college an' a toot'paste bot'. At's t'joke." "Well, it don't soun' funny at all whenya 'splain it like t'at. B'sides, when Bob Hope said it onna radio, he said 'Pepsodent.' "'At's cause Pepsodent's his sponsa. You know, he woiks f' Pepsodent. But Pepsodent ain' a college, see, so' t'joke on'y woiks like t'at if ya Bob Hope. Y'see?" "Huh!" snorts Joe. "Dames ain' got no sensa humah!")..

Click to expand...

Lizzie, that's one of Joe and Sally's funniest exchanges.

Also, when I first read the word, I missed the "n" in "but'nhole" and was shocked that Joe would say such a thing, seemed out of character. I'm not kidding, that's how I first read it.

LizzieMaine said:

...
(Cheer up, Fred, you can use the ones you don't like for belts.)...

Click to expand...

Fred's attention to detail paid off as, today, he's considered one of the 20th century's best-dressed men. Plus, I hear the guy was a pretty good dancer, too.

The Nazis understood propaganda - the "Eagle's Nest" is an awesome name for Hitler's Bavarian Alps retreat.

LizzieMaine said:

View attachment 372970 ... (Ha ha, Bill's an idiot. And "Yes -- riding would be a lot better than listening to you whine and moan for the next ten miles. Oh, did I say that out loud?")...

Click to expand...

I love that they're fighting over who said "jump!" They're just like an old married couple.

Kay would have wrapped this case up days ago.

LizzieMaine said:

...[ ("The Bedouins are dangerous! You must not venture among them!" "I'll go. You want anything?" "Yeah, bring me a pack of Camels. HA HA! Get it?")

Click to expand...

Lizzie, really.

LizzieMaine said:

And how it all began...


("Whassawlliss?" wonders Joe. "No pitchas? Hey, toin ta t' funnies. I wanna see how Dan Dunn looks ridin' a hoss!" "Ain' no funnies," puzzles Sally. ""Magine 'nat. A noosepapeh wit' no funnies. Who'd read it? I ask ya!")

Click to expand...

1841's Internet.

LizzieMaine said:

... What is it lately with people letting their kids climb mountains?....

Click to expand...

One of my first jobs as a kid in the 1970s was pumping gas at a station in NJ. I don't remember anything about a union back then. The station owner paid me in cash, yelled a bunch, but wasn't a bad guy and that was that for my "employment agreement."

LizzieMaine said:

...
("It would do you well to remember this, Peter LaPlata!" "Um, Bill Slagg. They call me Bill Slagg now." "Of course. You will pardon me, Mr. La...ah, Mr. Slagg...")....

Click to expand...

Just reminding everyone:

LizzieMaine said:

... Would it have killed Pat to rent a car?....

Click to expand...

Hertz now has Teslas. My Kingdom for a charging station.

A forced road march to Hong Kong, the guys should be able to make thirty miles a day. Feet will blister and bleed,
the big guy seems impervious to pain; while Terry and Dude have practical podiatry limit, and Dude needs to steel
his mind toward tomorrow and the next days to follow. Sounds cruel but such is life during war.

Post script: Burma banished for the past week or so hopefully is alive and kicking somewhere in the wilderness.
And hope she kneecapped that ba***rd Judas with a nine millimeter slug in his left or right patella. If she hit the
femur it would hasten death but a kneecap shot is agony. After what he did to Raven he deserves a little bit of 'extra'.

Five thousand eight hundred workers at the Robins Drydock & Shipbuilding Company yards at Erie Basin walked off the job this morning in a strike by Local 39 of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America CIO. The strike, effective as of 7 this morning, tied up repair work on about fifteen ships, among them a Navy vessel, an Egyptian freighter, several British merchantmen, several ships of Indian registry, and several American-owned merchant ships of Panamanian registry. About 3500 pickets were present this morning in front of the company gates and in front of strike headquarters at 141 Dwight Street, facing company police posted at each of the main gates, and 70 uniformed patrolmen posted along both sides of Beard Street extending over a total of four blocks. Union officials declared that the strike revolves around issues of wage increases, while the company maintains that the conflict is based on a dispute over the question of a closed shop. The Defense Mediation Board declared today that it will hold a hearing on the dispute "at the earliest possible date."

Secretary of State Cordell Hull joined with President Roosevelt today in condemning strikes in the defense industry, as the White House prepared to take "drastic action" if John L. Lewis spurns a request from the President to call off a strike of 53,000 members of the United Mine Workers in mines owned by the major steel companies. Unless that strike is resolved quickly, it is believed that the President may issue a direct appeal to workers to ""disregard their leaders" and return to the mines in the name of national defense, with the possibility that troops may be used to "protect the workers." It is reported that Mr. Lewis is drafting a response to the President's request for delivery some time today.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee declared today that America can no longer submit to "the dictates of Hitler," and must therefore free itself of Neutrality Act restrictions on American shipping. Senator Tom Connolly (D-Texas) opened Senate debate on the President's bill to repeal Section 6 of the Act to allow the arming of US merchant ships by calling such action "a move not for war but to defense."

Soviet counterattacks on the central front defending Moscow drove German forces from several strategic villages today and regained important ground. It was acknowledged, however, that "a serious military situation" persists in the Southern Ukraine.

A clash between Russian and Japanese soldiers on the Manchukuo-Siberian border was reported today by the Soviet news agency Tass. In a dispatch from Vladivostok, strategic Soviet port in the Far East, it was stated that twenty Japanese soldiers attacked a patrol of Soviet frontier guards near the village of Raskino last Thursday. The report noted that both sides suffered casualties in the skirmish, and it was speculated that the purpose of the attack was to drag the Soviet soldiers into Japanese territory.


(Mrs. Kelly got around. After she was Mrs. Gould, she married the nephew of a Brooklyn sugar magnate, and then an Albanian prince. Her most recent husband is the head of the company that makes Sweetheart Soap. So you gotta think she's got something stashed away someplace.)

An elderly retired painter faces felonious assault charges after showing up at his lover's front door with a gun in his pocket. Police say 65-year-old Eugene Canerossi of Manhattan prostrated himself yesterday before the 414 Bleecker Street residence of 35-year-old Mrs. Cora Brewer and begged her to divorce her husband and marry him. Mrs. Brewer had aided the Canerossi family after the mother of the elderly man's eighteen children died several months ago, and since then has fended off Canerossi's attentions. She had arranged the meeting yesterday on the advice of a police detective, who seized the man and found the gun in his pocket.


(The New Normal, 1941 edition.)

(Leo -- in show business?? Ya don't mean to tell me!)


("Whassamatter, gramps -- doncha read Page Four?")

(BROOKLYN'S STILL IN THIS LEAGUE TOO!)

President Roosevelt will go on the air tonight to deliver his annual Navy Day message, before a dinner of the Navy League at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C. The broadcast will be heard over nearly all network and independent stations from coast to coast, and will also be relayed to the world by the shortwave facilities of NBC and CBS.
(Or you can hear it -- here.)

(Why Genealogy Matters.)

("So -- tell me, what do you know about horse racing?")


(Is she Priscilla -- or is she Rosemary???)

("Yeah, but could you at least try to sound a little less enthusiastic about it?")

^...Too bad Sparky and Sue didn't get a round or two in the sack before it all hit the fan....
....I'm only kidding.

And in the Daily News...

Hey Duchess -- go talk to Helen Kelly.

"I like Bob Moses!" "Well, I LOVE Bob Moses!" "Well I had Bob Moses out to the house for supper!" "Well, I PERSONALLY COOKED A FULL COURSE DINNER for Bob Moses!" "Well, I'm going to adopt Bob Moses as my son!" "Well, Bob Moses is going to adopt ME as HIS son!" "Well, I'm going to change my name to Bob Moses!" "Well, I'm going to have BOB MOSES' BRAIN SURGICALLY IMPLANTED IN MY SKULL!"


Don't worry, son, you'll get your chance soon enough.


Follow your bliss.


"I hope you won't mind the dinosaurs. Chester seems to enjoy them, at least."


Time marches on.


Note that Junior ate the whole slice of cake. Anything for the mission.


Good luck, kid.


And again, point of order -- When did all this happen? If Veronica was in Harold's class in school, it must've all been within the last two years, and you can't tell me that in a small town like this there wouldn't have been gossip that at least Lena Lovewell would have heard and would be gleefully spreading.


Ah, surely you've heard of the famous Ziegfeld Schmaltz?

A kick in the teeth for the boys but otherwise circumstance has been more mixed than consistently cruel.
Dude needs to recover his edge as soon as possible.

LizzieMaine said:

...
(Mrs. Kelly got around. After she was Mrs. Gould, she married the nephew of a Brooklyn sugar magnate, and then an Albanian prince. Her most recent husband is the head of the company that makes Sweetheart Soap. So you gotta think she's got something stashed away someplace.)...

Click to expand...

And if not, women like that always seem to be able to hook another well-off husband.

LizzieMaine said:

...An elderly retired painter faces felonious assault charges after showing up at his lover's front door with a gun in his pocket. Police say 65-year-old Eugene Canerossi of Manhattan prostrated himself yesterday before the 414 Bleecker Street residence of 35-year-old Mrs. Cora Brewer and begged her to divorce her husband and marry him. Mrs. Brewer had aided the Canerossi family after the mother of the elderly man's eighteen children died several months ago, and since then has fended off Canerossi's attentions. She had arranged the meeting yesterday on the advice of a police detective, who seized the man and found the gun in his pocket....

Click to expand...

"...the mother of the elderly man's eighteen children..." That's ten children plus another eight. She had to be pregnant for the better part of nearly three decades.

LizzieMaine said:

... (Leo -- in show business?? Ya don't mean to tell me!)...

Click to expand...

The Grapevine article has a lot of fun and interesting information.

In a neat connect to '41, TCM has been running Tracy's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" a bunch this month. Each Halloween, TCM seems to push a few different classic and this year one of them has been Tracy's version of Hyde.

LizzieMaine said:

... Hey Duchess -- go talk to Helen Kelly....

Click to expand...

Re "The Neighbors," like a nice French or Italian girl looking for an American husband at the end of the war to get the heck out of war-ravaged Europe. Just sayin', I know it sounds crazy now, but it could happen.

LizzieMaine said:

... Follow your bliss....

Click to expand...

Another 1941 Monday comic strip lost to repeating Sunday's story advancement.

Harp said:

^...Too bad Sparky and Sue didn't get a round or two in the sack before it all hit the fan....
....I'm only kidding.

Click to expand...

That will be a full five minutes in the penalty box for you sir.

LizzieMaine said:

....
And again, point of order -- When did all this happen? If Veronica was in Harold's class in school, it must've all been within the last two years, and you can't tell me that in a small town like this there wouldn't have been gossip that at least Lena Lovewell would have heard and would be gleefully spreading....

Click to expand...

What do we know about Carl Ed's personal life? I'd bet this is more about that than "Harold Teen." Those three panels might be the most dialogue-filled three panels in "Harold Teen's" history (or for the two years or so I've been reading it).

Harp said:

A kick in the teeth for the boys but otherwise circumstance has been more mixed than consistently cruel.
Dude needs to recover his edge as soon as possible.

Click to expand...

I agree, considering the part of the world he's in right now, he has to get back on his game or he'll soon be dead too.

I've been wondering the same thing ever since the present "Harold Teen" storyline started. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of biographical information about Mr. Ed (pronounced "eed") floating around the web other than the sketchy basics -- born and raised in Moline, Illinois, puttered around as a cartoonist until hitting it big with "Harold" in 1919, drew it for forty years, and then he got sick and died in 1959 leaving behind a widow named Ellen (pronounced "ell-en") and a daughter. His obituary in the Chicago Tribune reveals no dark domestic chapters, but you never know. (And it's a bit sad to see how wizened poor Harold is going to look in 1959. Sometimes it's best not to see what the future holds.)

Ed, like Caniff drew characters who faced real world issues such as Harold losing a woman over his
immaturity and feeling the pain of Cupid's arrow forcefully pulled away from his heart.

What comics were back in the day.

That last panel gave me a whole new appreciation for the gum-girl outfit...

PrivateEye said:

That last panel gave me a whole new appreciation for the gum-girl outfit...

Click to expand...

Back and forth.

PrivateEye said:

That last panel gave me a whole new appreciation for the gum-girl outfit...

Click to expand...

As we've noted often, the comicstrips on the '30s and '40s have a surprising amount of soft porn in them. It's really stunning once you become a regular reader and see how much there was of it in the "funny pages."

Amanda Seyfried rocked a pretty cool version of the gum-girl outfit in the very good inside-Hollywood-in-the-'30s 2020 movie "Mank." (Comments here: #28152). Here entire performance is impressive.

Actual gum girls weren't quite so flouncy --

LizzieMaine said:

Actual gum girls weren't quite so flouncy --

Click to expand...

The demure rose at the end is exquisitely shy.

LizzieMaine said:

Actual gum girls weren't quite so flouncy --

View attachment 373484

Click to expand...

Another delightful illusion shattered...

Certain strikes would be defined as "sabotage against the Government" under the terms of a measure proposed in the House of Representatives. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Josiah W. Bailey (D-North Carolina) as an amendment to the Neutrality Act revision measure now pending before Congress, would cover any strike affecting "the production of materials or articles ordered by any department or bureau or Cabinet official for the national defense." It was understood that the amendment was submitted in response to the captive coal mine strike called this week by United Mine Workers' president John L. Lewis. It was also understood that the measure had the "tacit support" of President Roosevelt, based on remarks made by the President in his Navy Day speech last night, in which he called "a dangerous minority" of labor leaders a menace to national security.

The President's emphatic statement in last night's speech that "the shooting has started" came as spectacular notification that the nation is now moving beyond "short of war" boundaries into the field of limited naval hostilities. In his Navy Day remarks broadcast worldwide last night, President Roosevelt declared that America has been attacked, and Germany has fired the first shot -- a reference to the recent USS Kearny incident in which the lives of American sailors were lost. The President called for the speedy arming of American merchant ships, which, he insisted, must be free to deliver munitions directly to British ports under the protection of U. S. Navy vessels. The Neutrality Act, he declared, "has been outmoded by force of violent circumstances."

Nazi spokesmen denounced the President today with unprecdented rage, as "the greatest liar and faker in world history," with particular fury directed toward the President's statements suggesting that Germany intends to construct a Nazi-dominated hegemony in South America. The Berlin afternoon press published front-page articles denouncing Mr. Roosevelt as "a liar, faker, warmonger, lunatic, and hireling of the Jews," of "shamelessness, rottenness, beastliness, and idiocy," and further accused him of "foaming at the mouth" as he delivered his speech last night. The reaction was noteworthy in that Nazi authorities have never before replied with such immediacy to a statement by the President, with the usual policy resulting in a wait of 24 to 36 hours before a response is given.

Governor Herbert H. Lehman stepped squarely into the Mayoral race today by accusing Mayor LaGuardia of reaching "a new low of abuse" in remarks made by the Mayor during a campaign appearance last night in the Bronx in which Mr. LaGuardia discussed the Appeals Court's recent decision to rule out a new election for State Controller on November 4th. In those remarks, the Mayor praised the Appeals Court decision as a blow to "political bosses" whom he accused of attempting to manipulate such an election by nominating an American Labor Party candidate for the Controller's office, which candidate, the Mayor suggested, would then come out in favor of Democratic mayoral candidate William O'Dwyer, and he suggested that the Governor himself was complicit in this scheme. "You've heard of goniffs stealing from goniffs," chuckled the Mayor, "well, here now you've got double-crossers double-crossing double-crossers. Lehman punched himself in the chin and knocked himself out!" The Governor responded to that comment with fury, declaring that "the people of New York are sick and tired of Mr. LaGuardia's unbridled tongue." Mr. Lehman accused the Mayor of abusing and vilifying "everyone who has opposed him," and stated that "thief, double-crosser, crook, and bum" are "among the milder of the Mayor's epithets."

A thug wanted by police as a suspect in the murder of Brownsville policy racketeer Abe Bebchick killed himself this morning after a running gunfight thru the corridors and along the fire escapes of the Abbey Hotel in Manhattan. Abe "Joe Miller" Bither died from a shot from his own revolver after the suspect had fired twice at a theatrical manager he mistook for a detective. Two other suspects were arrested however, with police holding 28-year-old Samuel Kovner of Bensonhurst and 23-year-old Samuel Kablonsky, a resident of the hotel, on suspicion of involvement in Bebchick's death. The would-be numbers king was found dead in a car in Flatbush last month. Relatives of Bebchick identified Kovner and Kablonsky from rogues' gallery photographs as the two men seen running from the car after Bebchick was killed.

One thousand beauticians in five hundred beauty shops concentrated in Flatbush, Crown Heights, Brownsville, and East New York have walked off the job today in an effort to secure higher wages. The strike called by Local 7 of the Beauty Culturists Union of America CIO against the Empire State Master Hairdressers Association seeks a new contract calling for a minimum wage of $17.50 per week for manicurists, and an across-the-board wage increase of ten percent for all other beauty workers. Other demands include one week's paid vacation, elimination of staggered hours, an 8:30 pm closing time with one full day each week off and four legal holidays annually, and a 50 percent commission over the amount taken in for each beautician.

The widow of executed Murder For Money gang member Martin "Buggsy" Goldstien has filed a double-indemnity insurance claim following her husband's death last summer in the electric chair. Mrs. Beatrice Goldstien was the beneficiary of a $6000 policy taken out by her husband with the Prudential Insurance Company of America paying double indeminity in the event of an "accidental death," and Mrs. Goldstien, arguing that judicial execution qualifies as "accidental death," has filed a claim for $12,000. The company seeks to void the policy on the grounds that Mr. Goldstien "withheld from the company the fact that he was a murderer, and therefore was liable to execution." Mrs. Goldstein has 21 days to file a response to the company's action.


("Well, at leas' Leonora ain' hoitin'," observes Joe. "Nope," says Sally with a satisfied smile. "'At sleepa she's got on was mine when I wazza baby, 'at bonnet was my ma's, an'nat blanket come allaway f'm Irelan' wit' my gran'ma! Real Irish wool, 'at is." "Real Irish mot'balls, too," sniffs Joe. "Nah, 'at ain' whatcha smellin'," replies Sally. "Issat cheap cawfeee. I wenna Bohacks, I wenna Daniel Reeves, I wenna t' A&P, an'nat's all I c'd get." "Hey," observes Joe. "Howcum't crib sheet's got but'nholes?" "I made it outa couple'a ya ol' shoits," says Sally. "Ya gotta loin ta improvise!")

The four-sided clock on the tower of Borough Hall is the source of confusion for downtown workers this week, with each of its four faces displaying a different time, differing from two to four minutes from each side when compared against the Eagle's Western Union clock displaying official Naval Observatory Time. The clock on the tower of the Williamsburg Bank building, however, is precisely accurate.


(Aw, c'mon Cliff. Winchell wouldn't use that panhandler gag.)

(A spicy French bedroom farce about the war. Somehow that just doesn't seem in step with the times.)


(So there!)

(Ah, now this is the first we've heard of suggestions that Medwick will be gone next year, which makes all this talk about Litwhiler make sense. And Vaughan is a quality player who's the same age as Lavagetto. So.....?)

Tuesday has become "comedy night" on your radio this fall, with Burns and Allen, Fibber and Molly, Bob Hope and Red Skelton all holding court on WEAF. Skelton's new program features "Negro comic Wonderful Smith," along with Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra and vocalist Harriet Hilliard, with each broadcast tied to a particular theme. This week's program will demonstrate how different types of characters say good-bye. Meanwhile, Milton Berle speculates in the current issue of "Variety" that Mr. Skelton must feel a bit uncertain in his 10:30 PM time period -- following after Hope, the McGees, and Burns and Allen, Berle figures that Red must be wondering if the laughs he gets are his own -- or if the audience has only just figured out the jokes told by the preceding comics.


(Don't you have to submit some kind of paperwork on this?)


(George's hallucinations are clearly contagious.)


(I didn't know Leona had a sister.)

(Poor Irwin, how his ears must be burning.)

And in the Daily News...

Mrs. R's photo says it all.

Oh good, I was worried.


Mr. Stephens is still hopeful.

Poor Annie. She's gonna be an old lady by the time they finally get around to crossing that chasm.

I don't think we've yet seen a more halfhearted pair of crooks. Bring back Jerome Strohs riding on a dog!

"On the other hand, maybe I'll stick around here and provide helpful advice on how to run the organization."

SHOULDA CANED HIM WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE

Mr. King's art lately has been spectacular. Mr. Bevel's face is simple, yet utterly distinctive.

Plushie grew that giant moustache just so Emmy couldn't see him smirk.

Sorry Veronica, that's what happens when you hire those cheap independent hit-men.