The Pittsburgh Press (November 27, 1944)
Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
Well, our bond tour today takes us to Philadelphia, “The City of Brotherly Love.” Incidentally, Philadelphia boys have knocked off so many Nazis and Japs in this war that Hitler and Tojo would like to sue the city for false advertising.
I’m launching a ship today at one of the great Philadelphia shipyards. That’s a strange custom – breaking a bottle of champagne over the bow of a ship. But it’s lucky the custom started with champagne and not Scotch or we’d have a mighty small Navy.
You might say that newspaper gossip columns got their start here. This is the home of the great Benjamin Franklin who, among other things, was the Walter Winchell of his day. Mr. Franklin, as you know, wore square spectacles. My goodness, they must have had square keyholes in those days.