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Not a single book overdue
A local piano tuner suffered a heart attack at the McCook Public (Carnegie) Library on August 18, 1942. He had not been feeling well for several days so went to get some books to pass the time. He started to leave the library with his books, saw that he had forgotten to get his hat. As he went back to get the hat, he collapsed in the main lobby. A doctor was summoned and the man "was removed to his room at 206 West Second Street". Can you imagine not taking him to the hospital after a heart attack? The next morning he was reported to be resting quietly. Things were much simpler then...for sure.
Thursday, August 20, 1942, was a red-letter day at the McCook Public library according to Millicent Slaby, long-time local librarian. The library staff had been making a special effort all summer to make patrons aware of their responsibility in returning books. For the first time since Miss Slaby had been in charge of the library...not a single overdue book was out! I remember when I worked at the McCook College library how hard it was to get students to give you the book back...even if you offered to come pick it up! The Gazette headline on that story was "Ah! The Millennium! Not a Book Over-Due"
Schools were starting for the 1942-43 school year...war or no war. County School Superintendent Asa A. Wolfe announced that the majority of rural schools were opening on Monday, August 31. The average salary for rural schoolteachers in the fall of 1942 was up to $73 per month, compared with the $55 paid the previous year. District 51 had lost their schoolhouse in a fire and was unable to find carpenters to build a new one, so the board purchased a two-room dwelling and remodeled it. St. Patrick's School was opening on Thursday, September 3, 1942, the Rev. J.P. Murphy announced. McCook Public Schools new superintendent, Dr. Earl Wiltse announced that they and the Junior college would open on Monday, September 7, 1942. The college program for first year students got underway on Thursday, September 3rd though with student testing. There were talks for new students on "Social Science in Wartime", Importance of Science in Post War World" and "Who Should Take Foreign Languages".
Hested's had their "Going Back To School" sale going on. According to the August 19, 1942, Gazette some of the specials you could get were: lunch pails from 10c to 29c; school bags from 29c to 79c; composition books for 5c and 10c; the biggest box of Crayolas for 15c; automatic pencils from 10c to 25c; a ream of history paper for 39c; typing paper was 5c and 10c a package; a bottle or jar of Mucilage was 5c or 10c and carbon paper tablets were 10c. To finish up getting ready for school hair bows were from 5c to 25c and boys' neckties were 15c to 29c.
Rudy Vallee, 41, was sworn in as bandmaster of the Coast Guard with a chief petty officer's rating. It was Vallee's third stint in the armed forces. Clark Gable was accepted as an officer candidate in the Miami Beach Army Air Force school and began jumping out of his bunk on August 18, 1942, minus his signature hair and mustache. As an officers candidate he was making $66 a month compared to his salary of $3,500 a week as one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Gable had asked to train as a gunner in a bombing plane.
We always think we're so smart by inventing all this new high-tech stuff while some of it had been around quite a while. The police in Phoenix were taking pictures of speeding cars and their license plates in 1942 according to an article in the August 19th Gazette. In order to get new tires during the war people had to sign an affidavit that their vehicle had not been operated in excess of 40 m.p.h. since July 1, 1942. Law enforcement officers made the records of these speeding cars (over 40) and their license plate numbers available to the rationing boards.
The Olympia's "taste thrill of the week" was a hamburger and beer for 25c!
Montgomery Ward had an interesting oven advertised. It was called a "Modern Deluxe Steel Oven" and sold for $1.98. It looks about the size of a small microwave. It was insulated and says that it bakes and browns evenly as a big range oven. It had a large swinging door and two wire racks.
Thanks to everyone who is pulling weeds downtown "on the bricks" as Mike Ford says...it helps. If we actually get some rain one of these days, it could take quite an effort to keep down weeds this summer.
-- Linda Hein is Site Supervisor of the Sen. George W. Norris State Historic Site, 706 Norris Ave. Her e-mail address is lindalea@usa.com. For more information on Nebraska history, check out the web site: