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This newspaper page contains 16 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Dec 17, 1941
Page
4
A wartime memorandum recounts Chinese radio espionage and Japanese coastal listening tubes, describing how radars and patrols failed to stop surprise air attacks. It notes an old Chinese farmer relaying weather data for 20 years and discusses misjudgments that allowed Japan to strike Pearl Harbor.
Obituary notes Benjamin Russell, longtime head of Russell Manufacturing in Alexander City, Alabama, who built a regional textile empire and led civil improvement through the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce. Describes his public service, commitment to lifting communities, and lasting impact on Decatur and the Tri-Cities.
Alexander City cherishes a beloved champion who urged improvement through effort and self-reliance. His ideals and unselfishness inspired residents to strive for progress by their own brain and sweat, leaving the Tennessee Valley and Alabama grateful for his lasting influence.
Dr. Clendening argues that perfect health is an abstraction tied to individual time schedules. Chronometry governs development and aging, with some people advancing too fast or too slow, leading to dysfunction and a life that seems out of rhythm.
A veteran salesman warns that losing a sale harms more than revenue it tests courage faith and ambition. He cites self pity and negative thinking as killers of drive and opportunity, while recalling a World War I general who kept faith and pressed the attack with the left flank.
A church paper ponders generational similarity in Tomorrow's Sons, reflecting on mothers and fathers' dreams. A Saturday potato pie supper is planned at eight p.m., and Sunday will feature a sermon titled A Night of Horror. A keep off the grass sign on public property is noted. A man passes a tavern, then returns to toast Pat.
A quirky column collects Broadway wit and showbiz anecdotes from 1941. It recalls Waiter Winchell, actors descended from famous families, a quip about Hitler’s Reichstag address, a literary tea anecdote, a publisher joke, and Tokyo broadcasts warning of New York’s fall.
The piece notes Congress blamed the Navy after Pearl Harbor while ignoring their own role in guarding the fleet. It suggests lawmakers questioned the Navy but failed to address congressional actions that kept fleet readiness weak. The inquiry is pending and many members may see their own desks as part of the problem.
The United Press notes a claimed first victory over Japan in New York City. It says Osaka Mainichi and Tokyo Nichi Nichi are UP’s morgue and suggests Senate critics and Axis stories faced rejection by cash customers as too harsh.
In wartime theatre reviews serious plays on Nazi and fascist evils struggle at the box office. A mild sedate man at Forest Hills signs as air raid warden and asks for a gun. An agent phones Brock Pemberton about a casting move for Cuckoos on the Hearth.
Report mentions Laurence Stallings sending a telegram to colleagues in Ethiopia warning them with the phrase Confetti coming duck it. It reflects how communities recognize incoming danger through terse, rapid signals.
Fourteen spies for the Nazzys were convicted in Brooklyn after a trial begun September 8. The defense strategy aimed to stretch the proceedings to aid the defendants, but the outcome is unlikely to change in the eyes of the convicted.
In Craig Rice's murder novel Trial by Fury a character recalls a dynamic femme fatale with a mispronounced phrase, hinting at regional speech quirks. The snippet highlights Rice's sharp voice and noir atmosphere as investigators chase clues amid tension and danger.
A high court ruling says any ticket holder may attend a performance, rejecting calls to bar critics. The discussion notes that critics may stay in rather than be kept out, and laments that walkouts have harmed more shows than they protect. The piece also recounts Clyde Hager sharing a tale about a raincoatless boy and a vigilant American aunt.
Chick York and Rose King of the High Kickers defend their theater work despite wealth from oil wells in Texas. Rose explains that applause, not riches, drives their acting career, quipping you cannot get applause from oil wells.
Pat Di Cicco, son of a Queens broccoli grower, is to marry heiress Gloria Vanderbilt who is connected to a multImillion fortune. The couple will likely share meals after their wedding with broccoli and potatoes noted as their planned fare.
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