Woman Loses Children Over Nude Photos; Angels Earn Most of Cubs' Income, January 29, 1949

A panel from "Terry and the Pirates," by George Wunder.

At left, The Times' comics page from 1949. Moon Mullins ... Li'l Abner ...  Brenda Starr ... Dick Tracy ... Orphan Annie ... but also Ella Cinders ... Napoleon ... Harold Teen ... Abby an' Slats ... And Nancy. Always Nancy. Below left, Jeanne Shapiro pleads on her knees as a court awards custody of her children to her estranged husband, Arthur, a musician, after he introduces as evidence a picture of her in bed with another musician, Thomas Mace. "Mrs. Shapiro ... protested that she was a good mother and cited her work with children's groups," The Times said.

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There was nothing minor about the money made by Los Angeles Angels in 1949. The Angels' profit was big enough to help the other team playing in a ballpark called Wrigley Field--the Chicago Cubs. A story in The Times from the Cubs' board of directors meeting tried to put the money in some perspective. Perhaps the paper was already starting to promote the idea of the major leagues should look toward California--or at least that the Pacific Coast League deserved major league status. The Cubs earned $141,000, but $109,890 came from the Angels, who played in Los Angeles' Wrigley Field. Much of the Angels' profit had been spent to retire part of the corporation's stock, which left the minor leaguers $39,890 to work with in the coming season. So permit a little bit of math here. According to the story, if you subtract the Angels' profit from the Cubs' overall profit, the big club had $39,110 for working capital. So the major league team and the minor league team ended up with about the same money? Granted the Cubs were dreadful in 1948. But the Angels obviously were a major help to Chicago's bottom line. Or as The Times' story concluded, "There's your argument, fellas. Is the Angel team big league or minor?" Wonder if Walter O'Malley was already taking notes. --Keith Thursby