Background of news –
The Dardanelles
By Harold Kellock
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‘Gargantuan bureaucracy’ assailed by Governor Warren
Californian says corrupt political machines putting ‘everything’ behind Roosevelt
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An elections vane?
Republicans hail Connecticut vote
Hartford, Connecticut –
Republican leaders today regarded the outcome of yesterday’s elections in 71 Connecticut cities and towns as an omen of party victory in the November state and national elections.
The party retained control in virtually every community, and by heavier majorities than two years ago.
There were only two switches. Ashford went Democratic for the first time in three years, while North Stonington swung into the Republican column.
Middletown remained Republican, reelecting Mayor Salvatore T. Cubeta by 1,099 votes over Walter C. Brock. Stamford reelected Republican Mayor Charles E. Moore by 1,793 votes over Democratic State Senator Joseph J. Tooher.
Voting everywhere was reported “extreme heavy.”
Few absentee soldier ballots were cast, the majority being reported Republican.
Melchoir just a neophyte as he tries film acting
Famous singer has to ‘unlearn’ all the florid stud of opera
By Ernest Foster
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Barbara and Cary together again
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The birth of a new France –
Wolf: ‘Give Gen. de Gaulle a chance!’ that’s political tenor of France
They may not approve of him later but he’s top dog now
By Tom Wolf
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Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
Hollywood, California –
This isn’t a movie column, but I’ve gotten so many letters asking for inside information about the movie and radio stars that I’ll answer a few today.
To D. Q. of Miami, Florida: No, that’s just radio talk. In real life Eddie Cantor doesn’t try to get his daughters married. But if you’re interested, wire Eddie collect and he’ll charter a plane and bring them to Miami.
To the Marines who asked, “Is Betty Grable’s figure on the level?” The answer is “no.” …It’s anything but level. And not only is Betty beautiful but she’s a wonderful cook. You ought to hear the soldiers whistle when she walks in with a tray of sandwiches.
To Mrs. R. J. of Chicago: Yes, Jack Benny has a full head of hair. I had occasion to study it closely for quite some time. Jack left it in his dressing room.
War finance head lauds newspapers
Treasury aide cites ‘amazing support’
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‘Confession’ made in youth’s death
Girl says friend killed farm boy
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Cards still favored to top Browns
Cooper to face Potter in opener tomorrow; figures support Birds
By Leo H. Petersen, United Press sports editor
St. Louis, Missouri –
The Cardinals, perennial champions so far as this city along the banks of the Mississippi is concerned, came back to Sportsman’s Park today as the betting favorites for the 1944 World Series, but they found that their hometown had gone all out sentimentally for the rags-and-riches boys of Luke Sewell.
The facts and figures supported the betting odds, but they didn’t take into consideration the fighting heart of the American League Champion Browns.
For in the seven-game series that decides the gold and glory, past performances can be written off the record books and, if an old baseball tradition is borne out, the Browns will be the team to beat.
Browns ‘hot’
They are going into the series the “hot” club. They battled the Tigers right down to the wire – the final day of the season – before they won their first American League title, while the Cardinals coasted to their third consecutive National League pennant.
The pressure on the Browns has been heavy – but they have been winning and the Cardinals in the past month have looked like anything but the pre-war ball club they were in piling up such an early lead that their pennant drive was never in doubt.
Maybe Manager Billy Southworth can get his horde of stars back on the victory trail, for the cold statistics showed them superior to the Browns in almost every department of the game. But it was a sure bet that there was another department in which they might tie the Browns but never beat them – and that was fighting heart.
Few stars
Never before has a team with such few established major leaguers as the Browns even won a league pennant. All season long, no matter what the odds were against them, they came up with championship pitching from a staff that had no champions, hitting from batters who were strictly so-so at the plate, and fielding from fielders who had never been better than mediocre.
National Leaguers – and a lot of American Leaguers, too – felt that the Browns have been playing over their heads. They figured that the fighting spirit which carried them into baseball’s top ranks, after years and years in the poorer brackets, may have been good enough for a league championship but would probably fall short when World Series chips are riding.
While the Browns were sentimental favorites, St. Louis was taking its two champions in stride. Fans here have been used to Cardinals victories, but Brown triumphs have been something the town has been waiting for since the American League began operations in 1902.
Now they have it – but they aren’t too concerned about it. Hotels are sold out, tickets are going at scalper prices running as high as $50 for a box seat. Speculation is rife on the possible starting pitchers for the opener, but there was little to upset the even tenor of the ways of a war-boom town. While sellouts for little Sportsman’s Park were assured for as many games as will be necessary to decide the championship, there have been no rip-roaring celebrations, nothing to upset the blasé St. Louis fans.
Neither Southworth nor Sewell would say definitely who their starting pitchers would be tomorrow, but the assignments probably will go to Morton Cooper, the strong-armed righthander of the Cards, and Nelson Potter, a bargain basement pitcher whose clutch hurling kept the Browns in the running when they appeared out of the championship picture after kicking away a seven-game mid-August lead.
No Brownie injuries
Sewell had no injuries to worry about. His only problem was to keep his club keyed up to the pitch that carried it through one of the gamest stands a team has ever made.
But the situation was different with Southworth. His hitting star, Stan Musial, was recovering from injuries; his southpaw pitching ace, Max Lanier, was trying to shake off a late-season slump which saw him knocked out of the box seven times in as many starts, and outfielders Danny Litwhiler and Johnny Hopp were doubtful starters. Litwhiler has a bad knee, Hopp a bad back. The chances were both would play and that Southworth would try Lanier in the second game against Jack Kramer. There wasn’t much doubt but that the other starting pitchers would be Ted Wilks and Harry Brecheen for the Cardinals and Denny Galehouse and Sig Jakucki for the Browns.
Williams: St. Lou agog, but not over the Cardinals
By Joe Williams
St. Louis, Missouri –
There is a great deal of agoging out here. Practically all the citizens are agog. This is understandable. The town is about to enjoy its first in-the-family, exclusive, all-ours World Series. Beginning tomorrow, the St. Louis Browns play the St. Louis Cardinals for the world’s championship. Only a captious person would stop to ask how St. Louis playing St. Louis could possibly hope to settle a world issue. Certainly no one from New York, where similar fiction is commonplace, should bring up the report.
The difference here is that the Browns never before have been cast in a global role. This is the first time they have ever been in a World Series. It is interesting to study the reactions. The Browns are led by one Luke Sewell, rather undistinguished in baseball up to now, beyond his contributions as a first or third base coach and as a fair sort of catcher.
Who’s Eisenhower?
From what you read and hear here, Mr. Sewell has just completed a campaign which makes blushers of Eisenhower, Patton and Montgomery. There is a description of him as he sits in the clubhouse following the all-decisive victory over the Yankees on the final days of the season which would stir the memories of Carl Sandburg; it would make him feel close to the tired, weary and stricken Lincoln at Gettysburg.
This is not meant to be too cynical. Rather, to picture the emotion and attitude of a town that for so many years was denied a place among American League winners, and what could be more natural, in the zone of sports, than that the manager would take on a spiritual quality and that it would be accepted as such by citizens, frustrated for almost two generations?
It’s different now
Pennants are not unknown out here but were unknown to the Browns, achieving their first in 43 years. It is not difficult to imagine how a faithful follower of the Browns must have felt and how he feels today. All at once the sun has started to shine for him; he is no longer the underprivileged or the “little man,” to whom Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Wallace and Ma Perkins refer with such sympathy, from now on, even to the end of time, nobody can say his team never won a pennant, and if there is an implied suggestion here that the New Deal has improved its position in the election, all I can say is that Governor Dewey’s broad strategy must make the best of it.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Roosevelt’s handlers would be smart if they capitalized on the Browns’ victory. One incident alone would be of material help. The pitcher who won the pennant-winning game never pitched in the big leagues before. A year ago, at this time, he was pitching semi-pro ball in the Southwest. Today he is the hero of St. Louis. From mediocrity to magnificence! And he beat the Yankees, blasted Hoover’s symbol of capitalism in baseball. Even Stalin couldn’t ask for a better natural.
Pessimists’ faces are red –
Baseball ends banner campaign
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Landis to miss Series; breaks long record
Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Judge Kenesaw M. Landis will miss the World Series for the first time during his 24 years as baseball commissioner when the annual classic opens tomorrow.
The 78-year-old baseball czar’s office announced that “because of illness, which, although not serious, prohibits the Commissioner from traveling in the judgment of his physician, the Judge will be unable to attend the series.”
Landis appointed Les M. O’Connor (secretary and treasurer of the commissioner’s office), William Harridge (president of the American League) and Ford Frick (president of the National League) as his representatives to supervise, control and direct the series.
DOJ: Nazis obtain $25 million in secret pact
Five U.S. banks named in sale of marks
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Senate group urges freezing of U.S. plants
Move proposed in 11 major states
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Völkischer Beobachter (October 4, 1944)
Emigranten liefern Land und Volk aus –
Belgiens Not erzeugt Widerstand
Besatzungsterror mit Hunger, Arbeitslosigkeit, Massenverhaftungen
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