Actress Near Death After Beating; Gehrig in Decline, March 29, 1939

Dewitt Clinton Cook, who admitted attacking actress Delia Bogard, was executed Jan. 31, 1941, in the fatal beating of Anya Sosoyeva.  Bogard died in 1995 in Los Angeles at the age of 74. Ouch! A Duesenberg Model J sedan for $395 ($5,839.47 USD 2007), the same price as a 1936 Ford deluxe sedan. At left, Assemblyman Ralph Dills (D-Compton) reads a news article to legislators stating that drinking cow's milk gives children lower voices--"more like a calf's than a human's."

W.C. Fields blows his lines on Dick Powell's radio show! "Apple Mary," the precursor of "Mary Worth," drawn by Martha Orr.

Lou Gehrig's decline was becoming evident, although the cause was still unknown. The Times ran a wire story from Florida that polled writers covering the Yankees about Gehrig's status and how it might affect the team's chances. A few days earlier, the paper had published the news that Gehrig was benched in a spring training game, out of the Yankees' lineup for the first time since 1925. "Gehrig has looked pitifully rusty" in spring training, the Associated Press story said. The story about the writers was tacky, even considering that no one knew the severity of Gehrig's condition. "I don't think Gehrig has much to do with the Yankees winning. I don't think he helped them an awful lot last year," said Rud Rennie of the New York Herald Tribune. Gehrig's consecutive games streak would finally end in May when he pulled himself out of the lineup. "The consecutive game record always was meaningless to me and now that I have ended it you newspaper guys will believe me," he said. Asked about his return, Gehrig said he hoped "the arrival of warm weather will enable me to hit my stride." -- Keith Thursby