Husker season 'dismal' -- so was gas rationing

Monday, December 16, 2002

Business on McCook's Main Street was absolutely booming on Monday, Nov. 30, 1942. Gas rationing was to begin the following day, people were buying "precious" cups of coffee in downtown restaurants and most clerks were so busy they didn't even take lunch breaks. Approximately 75,000 gallons of gasoline was sold in McCook in the last three days before Dec. 1. One station that sold 2,600 gallons of gas on Monday had recorded "no sales" up to Gazette press time on Tuesday.

McCook Postmaster Sommerville said that "V" mail was especially popular. It was letters to servicemen on special forms that were microfilmed at embarkation points in New York or San Francisco for shipment. Air-mail and package mailings were up in number too at this time.

McCook Army Air Base workers staying at the Clare Hotel, Dodge and Mitchell rooming houses complained to police that they were robbed between midnight Thursday and 6 a.m. on Friday morning. Thursday had been payday for the workmen. While the defense workers were sleeping, the robber(s) came into their rooms, took money from their billfolds and exited, leaving the doors to the rooms open as they left.

It wasn't just in McCook that help was hard to find. Gazette columnist "The Bystander" noted that in Dorchester, just outside of Boston this sign was posted outside a local grocery store: "Please be kind to our employees. They're harder to get than customers."

Fred Glass of the Fox Theaters in Cheyenne said that he is this grateful to his employees: "When I come down in the morning and find the janitor is still on the job, I'm so pleased I take time to bow low to him, ask feelingly about the health of the members of his family, pick imaginary stray threads off his overalls, and ask if I can't run out and get him a cuppa coffee or something."

King Fong Café even had to discontinue the serving of breakfasts due to the shortage of available workers. McCook teachers were continuing to quit in mid-term when higher paying opportunities came along also. On Nov. 30, Eleanor Lenhart, fourth grade teacher resigned to accept a government position in St. Louis while West Ward principal Beulah Weidman, who was also a registered nurse accepted a job as assistant to the head physician at the Stratton hospital. School bus driver (and my old West 4th neighbor) Walter Liebrandt resigned to accept a job with the Burlington railroad.

The photo of the Methodist Church is from a postcard mailed in McCook on Nov. 4, 1942. It was mailed to a Mrs. Laugdon in Nevada, Mo., from her daughter, who was probably married to one of the construction workers. Daughter Vera said it was "windy and cold here". The church doesn't seem to have changed much, but remember those two houses to the east ... gone now.

Attention corn farmers: The Nov. 28 Gazette had a little article about how a new material had been found for women's hosiery which was more elastic than rayon. It was made from corn and corn sugar and was called Avconit. It was supposed to eliminate bagging at the knee ... it took them longer than 1942 to solve that problem!

The Huskers football team finished up their "most dismal" season in Nebraska University football history with a 19-0 loss to Kansas State. Nebraska won three games while losing seven games and went scoreless in their last three games. It was head coach Glen Presnell's first year but there was "no criticism of the coaching staff or grumbling to replace it." The Bystander said, "Would it be going too far to say the Cornhuskers have been pretty corny this year?" Remember guys, it's just a game!

A transfer, Fran Hassler from McCook Junior College was the "only newcomer to gain a starting berth" on the 1942-43 Cornhusker basketball team. Hassler of McCook was welcomed at starting center for the Huskers according to the article in the Dec. 5, 1942, Gazette.

The movies showing on Dec. 5 bring back all kinds of memories. Just ending at the Fox was a Mickey Rooney movie with hit No. 2 being a Hopalong Cassidy flick. Just starting the next day was Abbott and Costello in "Who Done It?" At the Temple were Fibbber McGee and Molly in "This Way Please" which also featured Betty Grable and Mary Livingstone. Hit No. 2 there was Roy Rogers in "Sons of the Pioneers." I wasn't alive then but it sure seems like I remember all that!

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