Oddest 1944 Wartime Accidents From Wacky to Dangerous
A National Safety Council roundup lists bizarre home and street mishaps during 1944. Tales include a navy plane plowing through a bedroom and wrecking a school, a fighter pilot injured mildly, a dancer plunging through a window, a baby spared as a blanket survives a plane crash, and multiple cases of lawnmowers, booby traps, coal truck spills, and falling through hazards leading to minor or serious injuries.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
National Safety Council
Margaret Morton
Groton
Conn
Incendiary Blonde unit seeks 1200 extra players in Tucson
Paramount unit arrived in Tucson to shoot Incendiary Blonde starring Betty Huton. City leaders including the mayor, judge, attorney, sheriff, chief of police, and schools superintendent joined citizens in support. Phyllis Brooks, pin up for the Sixth Bond drive, urges girls at home to dress feminine and formal for the troops abroad.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Paramount Movie
Tucson
Betty Hutton
Betty
Phyllis Brooks
War Activities Committee
Motion Picture
South Pacific
America
Notable Musicals and Essays Highlight Classic Hollywood Flavors
A review roundup notes The Magic Lanterns and Meet Me in St. Louis for lighthearted song and dance, Something for the Boys for eye pleasing numbers, and Blonde Fever flagged as cliché ridden. It also praises The Last Ride as grand cinema while lampooning The March of Time on China and a Times preview dialogue about Hitler.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
St. Louis
Margaret O’brien
China
Hall of Fame
Bombing Japan From Saipan Faces First Major Hurdles
The plan to continuously bomb Japan from Saipan faces crew fatigue maintenance weather and home front production challenges. Recon photos show damage to an aircraft plant near Tokyo and jams with water fronts. The article notes B-29 defects require fixes and discusses bases in the Philippines for future operations.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington, D. C
Mips
Japan
Tokyo
Air Corps
General MacArthur
Philippines
Leyte
Family hunt ends in accidental shooting in St Louis
The Woodrow Andersons faced a tragic accident when eight year old Donald used a yardstick to trigger a rifle on a porch. The shot wounded his sister Darlene, prompting a police and medical response.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Woodrow Andersons
St. Louis Andersons
Mr. Anderson
Anderson
Don
Darlene
A Grocery Truck Uplift Sparks Informal Street Market
In Bloomington California a grocery truck overturned creating a popular self service street market as eager customers rushed to fill needs and rationed budgets. A separate Los Angeles incident follows where Mrs James Reesse vanished mid sentence only to be rescued from a 12 foot deep excavation by firefighters.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bloomington
Calif
Los Angeles
James Reesse
Reesse
Quirky animal and traffic mishaps headline a comic day
Norwich Kansas horses frightened by a roller skater driver collide with a parked car leaving the wagon tongue through the auto. An Chicago auto hits a boy on the bumper Timmy Odall. Knoxville men struck by a train suffer only a scratch. Rita Hatfield in Chicago stumbles chasing a phone call.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Norwich
Chicago
Timothy Odall
Timmy
Tim
Ed Cloud
Earl Thomas
Knoxville
Tenn
Cloud
Boy’s Dart Needle Nears Fatal Hit on Brother
Six year old Robert Julian of Chicago tests a suction cup dart with a needle by aiming at a wall. The dart pierces Frank, 19, in the chest, requiring surgery to remove the needle near his heart. Also noted are a three story fall by Raymond Davis Jr. and Betty Rowland's accident in Hollywood.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Robert Julian
Chicago
Robert
Frank
Raymond Davis Jr
Pranks Lead to Tragedy in 1944 Home Accidents
A 1944 lookback shows children killed or gravely injured by dangerous pranks. Incidents include a nine year old trapped in a trader tool compartment for 36 hours, another suffocating inside an icebox, and a boy choked on a rope tangled at a porch clothesline.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Long Beach
Calif
Chicago
William
Sunset Carson Returns From Texas Ranch Vacation
Sunset Carson, a Republic western star, came back to the studio after a month away while sowing 1,000 acres of wheat and tending a 3,000 acre Texas ranch with his father. He rode 20 miles daily and milked 14 cows each morning to help during his father’s illness.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sunset Carson
Republic Western Star
Texas
Sunset
Crosby to Star With Hutton in Here Come the WAVES
Paramount announces Bing Crosby co starring with Betty Hutton and Sonny Tufts in Here Come the WAVES. Fans flood letters in response to news of Crosby joining the wartime musical.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bing Crosby
Paramount
Betty Hutton
Sonny Tufts
Dinah Shore Praises Captured German Pistol Gift
Dinah Shore, famed from Belle of the Yukon, expresses pride in a German pistol given by Lieut. Gen. George Patton while overseas and a second captured gun sent by a GI Joe in Germany.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dinah Shore
George Patton
Germany
Warner Bros signs Berliner to coach stars for Hotel Berlin
Trudy Berliner a European stage and screen actress is signed by Warner Bros to coach Andrea King and Faye Emerson for their Hotel Berlin roles. She was released from a Nazi concentration camp after four months imprisonment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Trudy Berliner
Warner Bros
Andrea King
Faye Emerson
Berlin
Gloria Holliday to star as Foster Fenwinkle in CBS skits
Gloria Holliday, a CBS telephone operator, won the role of Garry Moore's college girl friend in a series of skits centered on the new character Foster Fenwinkle. The sketches will air every few weeks.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hollywood
Gloria Holliday
CBS _ telephone
Garry Moore
Veronica Lake to reprise peekaboo in new film sequence
Veronica Lake reportedly revived her famous peekaboo eye look in a planned sequence for the film Out of This World after receiving letters from servicemen begging her to bring back the look. She had abandoned it at the WPB’s request to set a defense worker example and confronted Paramount executives with the letters gathered over a year.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bob
WPB
Paramount
Journey for Margaret described as hauntingly lovely film
A reviewer praises Journey for Margaret as hauntingly lovely and memorable. The piece notes the film's capacity to grow more delightful and touching on a second viewing, urging readers to revisit the picture.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Margaret
Kay Kyser Opens New Chapter With Sponsor Band
Kay Kyser of the College of Musical Knowledge starts a new chapter on December 27 as he conducts a band for a new sponsor. Featured with him are his wife Georgia Carroll and his regular troupe. Same time same station.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kay Kyser
College of Musical Knowledge
Georgia Carroll
Odds and Ends: Don Wilson in Swingin on a Rainbow
Don Wilson signs for a featured role as a radio announcer in Swingin' on a Rainbow. The production uses background scenes set in Florida or Louisiana for the March of Death in The Invisible Army. Hoosier Hot Shots pen a new novelty song Skee Dee Waddle Dee Waddle Do. John Wayne, then Marion Morrison, named All-American in 1929 at USC.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Don Wilson
Republic
Florida
Louisiana
Bataan
Hoosier Hot Shots
John Wayne
University of Southern California
Marion Michael Morrison
Axis Rule in Occupied Europe advances Nazi atrocity study
Raphael Lemkin's Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, published by the Carnegie Endowment, is heralded as the last word on Nazi acts in The Old Country. The Writers' War Board calls it an essential work and credits it with coining the term genocide to describe calculated destruction of national and racial groups. Buy two copies for reading and for bashing Nazi apologists.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Europe
Raphael Lemkin
Carnegie Endowment For International Peace
Oraicles
Writers’ War Board
Night clubs profit from cigarette margins and tips
A historical letter explains why night clubs dominate cigarette sales by charging higher prices than retail shops, taking 10c to 15c per pack extra and earning 25c tips per pack for concessionaires. It notes OPA ceilings and a long China dispatch by Dr. W B Burke, criticizing pro Japanese influence and journalistic distortions.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
OPA
The Wireless and Headlines Threaten Dramatic Irony
A radio piece mocks journalism as The British release Fascist Mosley yet jail Gandhi over India. The March of Time is praised for explosive scripts and MOT mocks consumer cigarette ads.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mosley
Gandhi
India
Mrs Melvyn Douglas Poised for California Congress Seat
Aviation era politics note Mrs Melvyn Douglas is expected to win a California congressional seat. Railway brotherhoods with 400000 members not affiliated to AFL or CIO protest the choice of Thomas Cashen of the AFL switchmen’s union to the War Mobilization and Reconversion board’s labor panel. They argue a member from their ranks should hold the panel post.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Melvyn Douglas
Congress
California
Railway Brotherhoods
AFL
CIO
Thomas Cashen
AFL Switchmen’s Union
War Mobilization and Reconversion Board
Cashen
Brotherhoods
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