The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Are we going to display these posters in the high schools? Seems like it would be a good idea.

All right, now how about Mexican divorces?

ALL RIGHT FINE LET'S GET ON TO THE NEXT STORY

*cocoanut sound effect*

Good thing somebody around here uses their head.

Rouge is one step ahead of you, flyboy.

"I'm going to marry Tommy Manville!"

Nobody likes a hoarder.

Takes all kinds.


Her heart just isn't in her work.

 

[Fading Fast]

(See if Mr. Nally ever buys anyone a beer ever again.)
...

Maybe 1942 time-warped its cold weather forward 80 years as NYC is supposed to drop into the teens tomorrow night.

I kept waiting to see if Dr. Clover's or Dr. Zee's name would come up in that cool appendectomy surgery story.

The LIRR might want to ask Mussolini how he did it; just don't ask for any war-strategy advice.

...

In Lowell, Massachusetts, the city's former mayor has been sentenced to a year in prison for accepting a $1000 bribe to award a repair contract for a new school to a local contractor. George T. Ashe, in pleading guilty, forfeited his office as mayor, and will be forever barred from ever holding public office again. The sentence is to be served concurrently with the year to which Ashe was sentenced last October after he was convicted on conspiracy charges.
...

A humbled Mr. Ashe said that after paying his debt to society, he's thinking about making a new start for himself in Brooklyn by getting into the paving business.

...

Former Deputy City Controller Milton Solomon is free on $1000 bail today after pleading not guilty to charges of attempted grand larceny. Solomon, who lives at 9 Prospect Park West, is charged with attempting to shake down Maurice Holt, owner of the Triangle Appliance Corporation, for $8000 cash on the promise of using his political influence to suppress the City Council bill lifting the requirement that stirrup pumps be included in fire fighting equipment in all public buidlings.
...

You almost wonder if they include a section on proper bribery protocol when they write new legislation.

...

(There would be worse ways to spend Christmas day than by going to see "Road to Morocco" for the first or the fifth time.)
...

Agreed on "Road to Morocco." I don't think I've steered Sally and Joe wrong yet, so I'm going to encourage them to see "In Which We Serve" as soon as possible.

...
Reader Harry Greenberg renews the call for the formation of an international Jewish army, bringing together Jews from all nations under the protection of the United States, regardless of the objections of Great Britain, which "does not wish to see Jews form a nation of their own." "If there is a will in Israel," he declares, "there is a way."
...

To quote Lizzie, "Coming events cast their shadows before..."

...

(MInk? For a job like this? You're a chump if you don't hold out for the sable.)
..

Kudos to you Lizzie for knowing the difference, as they are all just "furs" to me.

Are they all still quarantined in there or did we drop that storyline?

...

("Um, how do you open this thing again?")
...

Irwin is the exact type of person dress codes and uniforms work for. He looks much more normal in workman overalls than he does in the loud buffoonery clothes he usually picks out for himself.

...

All right, now how about Mexican divorces?
...

Massive sighs of relief could be heard all over Hollywood, New York City, Palm Beach and from the business owners in Reno.

...

Her heart just isn't in her work.

We know Harold knows what to do, he's no shrinking Terry, but apparently, he's also too smart to get sucked into a marriage he doesn't want.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Seems like we go for many months without any update on Lillums (or her battle axe mom, Lena). In the meantime, for some reason Harold always draws these drop- dead gorgeous women. Him getting a 1-A notice would be, as previously noted, such a delicious turn of fate.

 

[LizzieMaine]

What I wanna know is, did Pop Jenks and Shadow's ma ever go thru with it? We seem to be deliberately ignoring that whole storyline, in a "the editor said 'you're kidding, right?'" kind of way.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Fast, Sorry to hear NY freeze set on this eve. London is a bit balmy in mid-fifties gloom drizzle/rain.
Mild now thankfully so folk might save quid. This is all so damn ridiculous.

Terrence's tear is ever more keen what with Rouge. She obviously is in a bad way, no doubt though
this flight lieutenant is tad slow it seems.
And this Harold. Shouldn't he be in service with Army or Navy? Seems a fit man. And these circa papers
ball players in sports sheets. Are these men all cleared to stay?

 

[ChiTownScion]

What I wanna know is, did Pop Jenks and Shadow's ma ever go thru with it? We seem to be deliberately ignoring that whole storyline, in a "the editor said 'you're kidding, right?'" kind of way.

Shadow himself seems to be relegated to Sunday gag lines. Not sure that he's capable of much beyond comic relief in the grand scheme, but it actually might be funnier watching him go through Army basic training than Harold. His lack of impulse control could be a drill sergeant's dream/ nightmare.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I assume Harold is exempted due to having a defense-industry job, without which he should already be gone in the draft. Shadow is clearly too short , and Goofy is married, sort of, but that won't protect him for much longer. And if Lilacs and Poison aren't already on their way to boot camp, somebody needs to start an investigation with the Covina draft board.

As far as athletes go, quite a few of the prime specimens have already gone. The Dodgers lost Cookie Lavagetto last winter, and Don Padgett just before spring training ended. Since the end of this season, Hugh Casey has enlised, and Augie Galan is in the process. Pete Reiser was recently declared 1-A, by some medical miracle and can be expected to go soon, as will Pee Wee Reese. Dolph Camilli is exempt because of having six children, so he might come back if he decides to un-retire. Dixie Walker, who has a notoriously bad back and now holds a war job at Sperry Gyroscope, is a likely 4-F, but I don't think that's been made official yet. Freddie Fitzsimmons and Leo Durocher are too old. As for the rest of the club -- well, a lot of draft notices can arrive between now and the opening of camp.

As for players on other clubs, Hank Greenberg was one of the the very first to go, Bob Feller has gone, Joe DiMaggio has gone,, Ted Williams -- kicking and screaming all the way -- has gone, Enos Slaughter -- five months too late to keep Reiser from hitting that damn wall -- has gone, and many other lesser lights have gone. Many more will go before it's over.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Thanks Miss Elizabeth.

I can well imagine a proverbial heat lamp is switched on for public persona limelighters.
David Niven came back I know.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Cellar Clubs" frequented by "Zoot Suit Youths of 18 or 19?" Some will consider these hives of juvenile delinquency, some will consider them prime material for movies starrring the East Side Kids. And congratulations to John Golden and S. J. Kaufman, trying their best to reverse the current public perception that Broadway producers are just sleazy characters who hang around with Margie Hart.)

Heroic Red Army soldiers held Stalingrad by the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting of the war, according to front-line reports assembled by the United Press, and in some cases, fearless Soviet units hurled themselves into the line of their own fire to lure Nazis to their doom. "When an enemy group 10 to 15 times larger than one of our units attacked us," stated Lt. Gen. Vassili Ivanovich Chuikov, "our soldiers would send a signal to our batteries to open fire. They ordered the batteries to aim at them, so that they would be killed, but would take 10 to 15 times the number of Germans with them." The most horrific battle of the Stalingrad campaign, according to Gen. Chuikov, took place on October 14th, after Hitler's command to his troops that the city must be taken regardless of cost. "I would have not have believed that such an inferno could have opened up upon the earth," recalled Gen. Chuikov. "Each man killed dozens of Germans. Men died, but never retreated. The Germans intensified their blows. They hoped to break our morale with uninterrupted tank, plane, and infantry attacks, but Russians can beat any Germans, even the most fanatical, so far as fitness is concerned." He added, "Germans are brave only when they are aided by planes, tanks, and artillery. If their infantry have to fight our infantry unaided, they invariably fail."

Governor Charles Poletti today ordered an official investigation of incidents of the destruction of Jewish religious property upstate, at the towns of Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. The Lake Placid synagogue was recently desecrated by vandals, according to Rabbi Leopold Gutel, with great damage done to religious furnishings and the altar violated. Rabbi Gutel also reported that the Jewish cemetery at Saranac Lake was desecrated. "Those who commit such attrocious acts are traitors to the ideals of our beloved nation," declared the Governor. "They betray democracy at home while our men and women die for it in battle. Hitlerism and the Ku-Klux Klan do not belong in America."

The icy streets across Brooklyn as a consequence of last night's freezing rain will only be a temporary inconvenience, according to the Government weather bureau, which calls for rising temperatures thru this afternoon. While heavy traffic downtown soon wore away the ice coating the streets, icy pavement remained a hazard this morning in outlying sections of the borough, and on Long Island, with many minor automobile and pedestrian accidents reported.

A Brooklyn doctor who serves as a member of the medical grievance board of the State Board of Regents today denounced Mayor LaGuardia's plan to advertise medical treatment of venereal diseases. Dr. Vincent P. Mazzola of 133 Clinton Street called the plan to display posters encouraging persons suffering from gonorrhea to seek medical assistance "an encouragement of social evil." Dr. Mazzola argued that the posters "advertising an easy cure" will simply serve as "an unhealthy stimulus to children's curiosity" that may give "a green light to prostitution." He recommended that if posters are to be displayed, they should state that treatment "may" give a cure, and that "sterility and race suicide" may follow.

Meanwhile, the Board of Education is seeking public reaction to the plan to inaugurate Saturday sex education courses at selected high schools under the auspices of the Department of Health. Courses would be taught on an optional basis, with no direct Board of Education participation, at Boys High School and Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, and at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. Dr. Julius Greenwald, head of the United Parents' Association of New York, which represents 100,000 families citywide, has criticized the plan as insufficient to meet the problem at hand, and has called for a fully-sanctioned program of sex education in the city to be presented as part of the regular high school curriculum.

("Take a letter!" roars Butch. "Dear Councilman Cohen, YOU TINHORN. TUNE IN MY BROADCAST NEXT SUNDAY! YOU WILL HEAR YOURSELF MENTIONED! PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE! ON THE OTHER HAND NEVER MIND THIS LETTER! SEE ME IN MY OFFICE AT ONCE! NEVER MIND, I"M COMING TO SEE YOU! WHERE'S MY CAR!")

("But no more than 2 1/2 pounds a week. -- Love, Leon Henderson.")

In a Franklin Avenue luncheonette near Ebbets Field, an honor roll now hangs listing the names of twenty neighborhood boys now in the service, young men who used to gather around the counter to discuss the doings of the Dodgers but who are now scattered all across the country for military training. Two of the twenty have risen from the ranks to earn commissions as second lieutenants, and one is already a first lieutenant.

("I know t'at jernt," comments Joe. "Dincha brutteh useta hang aroun'neah?" "Oh, for a while," sniffs Sally. "But you know, he got so he had betteh t'ings t'do." "Oh yeah, t'at canny stoeh oveh on Empieh Boulevawrd," nods Joe. "Din'ney raid t'at place?" "Mickey had awready d'cided t' jern'na soivice by t'en," snaps Sally. "He even tawked it oveh with Judge Gol'stein. "A frenna t' fam'ly," Joe sighs. "Yes," affirms Sally. "A VERY GOOD FRIEN'.")

(War is Heck.)

A 27-year-old Flatbush man was held on $500 bail last night in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court on a charge of petty larceny after a restaurant employee complained that he had worked a short change swindle on him. Restaurant worker Christ Dimulas alleged that when Frank Locanthi of 601 E. 9th Street handed him a $10 bill in payment for a meal, he also held up five $1 bills, asking to have them changed to a $5. He succeeded in receiving the $5, along with the change from his meal price, but, Dimulas charged, also kept the five $1s.

(I dunno, Mr. Camilli's letter reads to me more like "I KNOW YOUR REPUTATION YOU TIGHTFISTED OLD S. O. B., AND IF YOU WANT ME TO PLAY YOU BETTER MAKE IT WORTH MY WHILE.")

Lowell Thomas will interview Noel Coward by shortwave from London during his 6:45pm broadcast tonight over WJZ. The topic of the interview will be Mr. Coward's new film production "In This We Serve," which opens here tomorrow.

(Nah, Harold Gray got there first.)

(DON'T LAUGH! YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO GET COLD CREAM?)

("Of course I'm armed! Doncha know how people feel about the phone company?")

("THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS TAKE IT FROM AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG! CELLARS ARE GREAT! UNLESS YOU'RE WEARING A ZOOT SUIT. YOU ZOOT SUIT GUYS, STAY OUT OF CELLARS! AND KEEP EM FLYING!")

(I was right -- this guy really IS Slap-Happy. Hey, anybody seen Doc Static lately?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Muggers? Zoot Suit Boys? Mob hit men? At least he didn't end up in a grease pit.

"Hey!" heys Joe. "'At bowlin' alley looks fun!" "Yeah," nods Sally. "Ma's awredy gettin'nat. " "F'Leonoreh?" "Well, 'at's what she SAYS...."

"I wonder whutever become o' that John and Jill Tecum? Prob'ly sittin' on an island eatin' cocoanuts an' drinkin' them drinks that come in a glass with a little umbrella. An' them Slaggs? Wonder how they're doin'? Gee, that Bill Slagg was great. Maw Green? Aw, gosh, I see her every Sunday. Same as ever with those awful jokes!"

Wait, didn't we see the other day that Santas are 3-A? What happened, tubby, did ya tick off your local board?

"We're Off On The Road To Chungking..."

Hey, I thought Bimbo didn't want any annoying staff around?

Showoff. You coulda just put "SOS."

Tsk. Bicycle chases seldom work out well for Junior.

It really is a wonder that Child Welfare Services hasn't shut this place down.

At least he's not lighting a cigarette.

 

[Fading Fast]

("Cellar Clubs" frequented by "Zoot Suit Youths of 18 or 19?" Some will consider these hives of juvenile delinquency, some will consider them prime material for movies starrring the East Side Kids. And congratulations to John Golden and S. J. Kaufman, trying their best to reverse the current public perception that Broadway producers are just sleazy characters who hang around with Margie Hart.)
...

"Reds Smash into Ukraine"

Who in '42 wooda thunk that all but the same headline could be used 80 years later.

I'm not buying Walter G. Burns' "I know nothing" defense. Push on him harder and he'll crack.

...

A Brooklyn doctor who serves as a member of the medical grievance board of the State Board of Regents today denounced Mayor LaGuardia's plan to advertise medical treatment of venereal diseases. Dr. Vincent P. Mazzola of 133 Clinton Street called the plan to display posters encouraging persons suffering from gonorrhea to seek medical assistance "an encouragement of social evil." Dr. Mazzola argued that the posters "advertising an easy cure" will simply serve as "an unhealthy stimulus to children's curiosity" that may give "a green light to prostitution." He recommended that if posters are to be displayed, they should state that treatment "may" give a cure, and that "sterility and race suicide" may follow.
...

It's a 1942 version of a doctor - a scientist - not wanting the truth told to the public as, he believes, it wouldn't be best for the "general welfare" because the benighted people wouldn't behave the way he wants if they had the truth.

Very little is new.

...

A 27-year-old Flatbush man was held on $500 bail last night in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court on a charge of petty larceny after a restaurant employee complained that he had worked a short change swindle on him. Restaurant worker Christ Dimulas alleged that when Frank Locanthi of 601 E. 9th Street handed him a $10 bill in payment for a meal, he also held up five $1 bills, asking to have them changed to a $5. He succeeded in receiving the $5, along with the change from his meal price, but, Dimulas charged, also kept the five $1s.
...

What is an example of something that should have been taken as a mildly painful life lesson and not a reason to go to court.

...

Lowell Thomas will interview Noel Coward by shortwave from London during his 6:45pm broadcast tonight over WJZ. The topic of the interview will be Mr. Coward's new film production "In This We Serve," which opens here tomorrow.
...

"It's great to have you on our show, Mr. Coward."
"I'm very happy to be here, Mr. Thomas."
"So, Mr. Coward, did you have to use so many naughty words in your new movie?"
"Sheesh, what is it with you Americans and bad words, I've heard plenty Americans curse?"

...

("Of course I'm armed! Doncha know how people feel about the phone company?")
...

So much for the Irwin as hero storyline. Now, in addition to finding a way to free himself, Dan is going to have to rescue Irwin...or does he? "I tried to save him Chief, but Irwin paid the ultimate price. What's that? Yes, I think a plaque in his honor would be nice."

...

"I wonder whutever become o' that John and Jill Tecum? Prob'ly sittin' on an island eatin' cocoanuts an' drinkin' them drinks that come in a glass with a little umbrella. An' them Slaggs? Wonder how they're doin'? Gee, that Bill Slagg was great. Maw Green? Aw, gosh, I see her every Sunday. Same as ever with those awful jokes!"
...

"Don't forget me. I was a father figure in my own way. Had she stayed with me, the kid would be running her own, umm, territory by now. I always believed in her."

...

Hey, I thought Bimbo didn't want any annoying staff around?
...

The "charm" of doing all his own housework and childcare quickly wore off for Bim.

...

Tsk. Bicycle chases seldom work out well for Junior.
...

They better get Mother Trueheart some medical attention for her head injury or she's gonna suffer the same fate as Red Cagle did from his.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Harold skylarked sweater girl without so much as a half-penny toss. Lowest coin in man's royal realm.
Meanwhile on the Road to Bethlehem Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar ride camel.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("New Order?" Might want to come up with a better phrase, Your Holiness.)

American fliers are backing up the British offensive in Northwestern Burma with heavy raids on vital Japanese bases, it was revealed today. Anglo-American air raids this week have hit almost every major Japanese air base from Lashio to Rangoon, it was said, and all of these raids were made in daylight. Only two Japanese fighters were encountered over three days, indicating that Japanese air power has been diverted.

American airmen again strafed the enemy base at Munda, in a continuation of their efforts to knock out that vital Japanese base in the Solomon Islands. The latest attack, the thirteenth on the installation since December 9th, was carried out by dive bombers operating from Henderson Field, 150 miles away on Guadalcanal.

Police revealed today that the home of a dead Brooklyn naval hero was ransacked by burglars while his widowed mother was away. Mrs. Dorothy L. Wilson of Crown Heights reported that her home at 388 Crown Street was broken into while she was visiting her sister in Lakehurst, New Jersey, and that among the items stolen was a traveling bag containing papers relating to the death of her son, Lieutenant Ira Washington Wilson, who was killed in action recently aboard a ship at Guadalcanal. Among the papers was the official death notice sent to Mrs. Wilson by the Navy Department. Police said blood was discovered on stair railings and on the floor inside the house, indicating the burglars were injured by broken glass as they entered the house thru a window. Police had no cash estimate on the value of articles stolen.

Cases relating to church bingo and motion-picture theatre Screeno games were tossed out of Queens Felony Court yesterday by Magistrate Abner Surpless, in defiance of Mayor LaGuardia's crackdown against "tinhorn gambling," In the theatre case, Magistrate Surpless ruled that Jacob Leff, owner and operator of the Acme Theatre in Glendale, did not operate a lottery by conducting a game of Screeno, since participants were not required to purchase a ticket in order to play the game, and cited a previous Court of Appeals ruling in the matter of a movie theatre's Bank Night promotion that such games were legal so long as no consideration was charged for participation. In the bingo case, Magistrate Surpless found no evidence of a crime being committed in connection with a game conduted at the Jamaica Arena for the benefit of St. Nicholas of Tolentine R. C. Church. Assistant pastor of that church, Rev. Stephen F. Lanen testified that all profits from that game were turned over to the church, and that the four men conducting the game were doing so under his full supervision.

The Long Island Rail Road's application for a 10 percent fare increase for commuter tickets is only a "false cry of wolf," the Long Island Transportation Bureau declared today in a brief filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission. The brief notes that the L. I. R. R.'s commuter traffic has increased with the war to such an extent as to "more than meet the additional revenue required for operation."

State Senator Joseph A. Esquirol took the stand yesterday in his disciplinary hearing before Referee Leander B. Faber to deny charges that he has profited from salary splitting with persons appointed to positions by him. Esquirol testified that money delivered from checks made out to Walter G. Burns, a lawyer who testified that he had indorsed checks totaling $2600 but had never received any of the money, had in fact gone to Senate Clerk Howard Rosenbaum, who had actually performed the duties of the position to which Burns had been appointed. Esquirol further testified that Rosenbaum, and not himself, had also received money from three $200 checks indorsed by Mrs. Vera Merlo.

("Huh," says Joe. "No pitcheh a' Solly. Well, *we* remembeh what he looks like." "Lemme see," says Sally. "Ma sent in a pitcheh a' Mickey, an' I wanna see if t'ey run it." "One'a t'em ones where he's facin' t' t'front or t't' side?" "What?" "Nut'n.")

(It is rare, in 1942, for a British picture to get these kinds of plaudits. Most British films screened in the US show up on the bottom half of double-features, with all the buildup of a routine programmer, or they screen in art theatres hidden underneath the L tracks in obscure parts of town.)

The Eagle Editorialist declares that "our war for world justice is in keeping with the Spirit of Christmas." "It is for the establishment of justice for our own people and those of other lands that we have drawn the sword against those artisans of a new order that decrees that there shall be no place for mercy, charity, or justice -- only for might and cruelty, hatred and selfishness."

(To say nothing of the wrapping paper shortage...)

Brooklyn now is the "hottest spot for criminals" in the United States, according to Judge Samuel J. Leibowitz, and by that he means that criminals are finding themselves very much on the hot seat. In a brief Christmas Eve address to the Kings County Grand Jury, Judge Leibowitz credited former District Attorney, now Lt. Col. William O'Dwyer for turning the tide in the borough, and declared that during his term of office "pickpockets have disappeared from Brooklyn, and robbery is an event." He urged grand jurors to do their duty by "keeping it hot" for criminals in the borough.

('Nut club?" overhears John McDonald. "Listen, let me tell you about this one woman that always calls from this candy store in Bensonhurst...")

(So since the Eagle doesn't publish tomorrow, we skip directly ahead to the heartwarming Christmas miracle. ALL EXCEPT FOR YOU ANNE.)

(And to you as well, Mr. Stamm. You aren't as crazy as our dear Boody Rogers was, but it's not for lack of trying.)

("WHAT? WHAT? I GOT NICE HANDS! AN' MY MA ALWAYS TOLD ME I SHOULD SHOW 'EM OFF!")

(WHY SURE! I'LL BE IN WASHINGTON TOMORROW HAVING CHRISTMAS WITH FALA AND HIS FAMILY, SO YOU CAN JUST LEAVE MY PRESENT IN THE CHAIR HERE.)

("Garbage -- in a printing plant?" Ah, must be a Hearst paper.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And of course...

(Merry Christmas from America's Biggest Small Town! But wait -- the Brooklyn National League Baseball Club Inc. has always been prominently featured in this ad! BUT NOT THIS YEAR! Hey Rickey, you old cheapskate, we thought you were religious! And hey -- could that possibly be Former Lieutenant Cuthbert Behan of the Amen Office Bail Bond investigation? Well, Christmas is nothing if not a time of redemption! So we won't ask how you got a liquor license.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Be honest, Dottie. Margie Hart put you up to this.

And if you can't get a table, Christmas Dinner at the Automat is 65 cents.

"Speaks like avee-a-tor!" Sounds like Rouge must've run into Dude Hennick before. Bless Bess!

"An' if Punjab an' the Asp finally got fed up and did him in themselves, please forgive 'em. You know how he was."

You're a twisted man, Mr. Gould. A very twisted man.

"AVAST ya SWAB!"

*snif*

Let's see what Mama DeStross has to say about that.

Christmas is a time for trolling.

Don't put your name in the lineup unless you're ready to step up to bat.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

Remember when last year's big Christmas movie was "Hellzapoppin'?"

And, speaking of a long time ago, here for Walt and the family is a peek back at Skeezix's first Christmas...

 

[Fading Fast]

("New Order?" Might want to come up with a better phrase, Your Holiness.)
...

Agreed, the Pope sounds a bit tone deaf on that one. Clearly, the Catholic Church's views on socialism/marxism have evolved over the years.

...

Cases relating to church bingo and motion-picture theatre Screeno games were tossed out of Queens Felony Court yesterday by Magistrate Abner Surpless, in defiance of Mayor LaGuardia's crackdown against "tinhorn gambling," In the theatre case, Magistrate Surpless ruled that Jacob Leff, owner and operator of the Acme Theatre in Glendale, did not operate a lottery by conducting a game of Screeno, since participants were not required to purchase a ticket in order to play the game, and cited a previous Court of Appeals ruling in the matter of a movie theatre's Bank Night promotion that such games were legal so long as no consideration was charged for participation. In the bingo case, Magistrate Surpless found no evidence of a crime being committed in connection with a game conduted at the Jamaica Arena for the benefit of St. Nicholas of Tolentine R. C. Church. Assistant pastor of that church, Rev. Stephen F. Lanen testified that all profits from that game were turned over to the church, and that the four men conducting the game were doing so under his full supervision.
...

Your move, Little Flower.

The Screeno games always seemed a stretch as it's not gambling if you don't have to put up or risk any money.

...

State Senator Joseph A. Esquirol took the stand yesterday in his disciplinary hearing before Referee Leander B. Faber to deny charges that he has profited from salary splitting with persons appointed to positions by him. Esquirol testified that money delivered from checks made out to Walter G. Burns, a lawyer who testified that he had indorsed checks totaling $2600 but had never received any of the money, had in fact gone to Senate Clerk Howard Rosenbaum, who had actually performed the duties of the position to which Burns had been appointed. Esquirol further testified that Rosenbaum, and not himself, had also received money from three $200 checks indorsed by Mrs. Vera Merlo.
...

To understand this story we are going to need both a much better explanation and a Daily News chart. My guess, it's all so confusing because Esquirol is trying to hide the corruption.

...
("Huh," says Joe. "No pitcheh a' Solly. Well, *we* remembeh what he looks like." "Lemme see," says Sally. "Ma sent in a pitcheh a' Mickey, an' I wanna see if t'ey run it." "One'a t'em ones where he's facin' t' t'front or t't' side?" "What?" "Nut'n.")
...

Oh, Joe, why would you want to live dangerously on Christmas Eve, but damn, that was funny.

...

(It is rare, in 1942, for a British picture to get these kinds of plaudits. Most British films screened in the US show up on the bottom half of double-features, with all the buildup of a routine programmer, or they screen in art theatres hidden underneath the L tracks in obscure parts of town.)
...

While Ms. Corby might have been pushing down just a bit too enthusiastically on her typewriter keys when writing her review, the movie is that good - and that morale boosting - and that (my guess), probably, explains why it broke through the usually obscure position reserved for British films in America at that time. I'd bet Joe and Sally are going to like it and have their own take on it.

...

The Eagle Editorialist declares that "our war for world justice is in keeping with the Spirit of Christmas." "It is for the establishment of justice for our own people and those of other lands that we have drawn the sword against those artisans of a new order that decrees that there shall be no place for mercy, charity, or justice -- only for might and cruelty, hatred and selfishness."
...

"...artisans of a new world order." "Artisans," really, EE?

...

Brooklyn now is the "hottest spot for criminals" in the United States, according to Judge Samuel J. Leibowitz, and by that he means that criminals are finding themselves very much on the hot seat. In a brief Christmas Eve address to the Kings County Grand Jury, Judge Leibowitz credited former District Attorney, now Lt. Col. William O'Dwyer for turning the tide in the borough, and declared that during his term of office "pickpockets have disappeared from Brooklyn, and robbery is an event." He urged grand jurors to do their duty by "keeping it hot" for criminals in the borough.
...

The philosophical and practical approach to law enforcement and criminals in NY has changed completely today.

...

("WHAT? WHAT? I GOT NICE HANDS! AN' MY MA ALWAYS TOLD ME I SHOULD SHOW 'EM OFF!")
...

"Fine, make fun of my manicure, but 'tubby,' was that really necessary?"

And in the Daily News...

Be honest, Dottie. Margie Hart put you up to this.
...

Gypsy needs two pieces of evidence to shut this down: the shared notes and the sample book. Heck, if the sample book is substantially different from the book Gypsy published, she doesn't even need the shared notes.

...

"AVAST ya SWAB!"
...

"Wow, the railroad really is going the extra mile for us servicemen this year. What does my berthmate look like and what is her name?"
"I meant the rocking motion of the train, sir, you'll be alone in your berth."
"Oh, it sounded to good to be true."

...

Christmas is a time for trolling.
...

There's no need for Mistletoe with the Slither Sisters.

...

Don't put your name in the lineup unless you're ready to step up to bat.

It's also easy to see yesterday's kiss as being '40s code a whole lot more, which means Cynthia's a much more interesting girl.

 

[ChiTownScion]

A tough call, but I'd say that if there ever was a "Wise Beyond Their Years" contest between Annie and Kayo, the younger Kayo would give Annie a run for her money. Kayo, in my opinion, is allowed the luxury of actually being a kid more than Annie. It isn't much of a home- but he has a home.

Perhaps given his situation being a little smart aleck is expected- but when I recall the admonitions of my parents of how kids of that era were to be seen and not heard, I have to wonder if it was bunk that they fed me. The comics (and yes, they were "just the funny papers") lead me to believe that precociousness wasn't always seen as a vice in kids. And some of the movie portrayals of kids back then (e.g., Virginia Weidler in "The Philadelphia Story") lead to the same conclusion. If a kid who could hold his/ her own with adults in art was appreciated, could real life be so different?

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Where do I start? First, Mrs Warren, whom epitomizes all that is holy and courageous in this world.
Her gallant fight against illness with found true love truly lights the blaze to thunder hearts.
...sad to learn British films play off Broadway dives. But speak the devil, blaspheme if I will, the Papal
bull lecture entendre reminds that most excellent film of Gregory Peck's, title eludes now but he is an
Irish monsignor on papal staff, a figure writ most large wherein the Roman resistance and fleeing
Italian Jewish locals. Christopher Plummer plays the swine SS colonel. Never really seen whole only
snips, but a scene at the opera where Peck meets Plummer and it's Puccini and Peck asks that German
to sign his play programme. Later, the colonel's signature is expertly forged for all illicit purpose.
Love, love it. Films like this are too seldom and here I am having not all of it.
Honourable mention of course all the brave. Merry Christmas. I stooped at Waterstones the other day
whilst out and about but tired, only wanted a coffee and seated observe my similars shop late. Grinch or Scrooge, it's this cold to mild temperature flux.

 

[LizzieMaine]

View attachment 475496

A tough call, but I'd say that if there ever was a "Wise Beyond Their Years" contest between Annie and Kayo, the younger Kayo would give Annie a run for her money. Kayo, in my opinion, is allowed the luxury of actually being a kid more than Annie. It isn't much of a home- but he has a home.

Perhaps given his situation being a little smart aleck is expected- but when I recall the admonitions of my parents of how kids of that era were to be seen and not heard, I have to wonder if it was bunk that they fed me. The comics (and yes, they were "just the funny papers") lead me to believe that precociousness wasn't always seen as a vice in kids. And some of the movie portrayals of kids back then (e.g., Virginia Weidler in "The Philadelphia Story") lead to the same conclusion. If a kid who could hold his/ her own with adults in art was appreciated, could real life be so different?

Meanwhile, the one comic strip kid who grew up in an idyllic 1920s-30s middle class millieu, with adoptive parents who dearly loved him, lots of friends, and a neighborhood where everyone genuinely cared about each other, and who grew up to be a fine, responsible young man -- is having the worst Christmas of anyone this year. Poor, poor Skeezix.