Jan. 28, 1942: Buried on the jump of this story is the news that the city of Los Angeles urged all Japanese employees to take a leave of absence “for the duration.” Those who refused to quit were suspended. The Board of Supervisors ordered department heads to fire all Japanese employees.
The Times editorial page added to its lists of embarrassments by endorsing the action as unpleasant but necessary, noting: “There is every disposition to respect civil liberties and to protect members of enemy races from persecution or unnecessary hardship. But this is war.”
For previous embarrassing Times editorials from the 1920s to the 1960s, see: “Don’t Recall Mayor Shaw,” “Don’t Let Jewish Refugees Into the U.S.,” “We Don’t Need a Federal Anti-Lynching Law,” “Good Riddance, Dashiell Hammett, You Commie Hack Writer” and “The Japanese Menace.”
Jimmie Fidler says: “No one is more impatient to get to a backgammon board than Charles Coburn.”
[Update: This is “On Our Merry Way,” a curious film in which Burgess Meredith plays a classified ad salesman who masquerades as a reporter. At first glance, I assumed this was the Globe Lobby at The Times. There is, after all, a globe. But the Globe Lobby is round, so this is obviously a set. I’d like to think that Ernst Fegte and Duncan Cramer were influenced by the Globe Lobby. By the way, IMDB says that Duncan Cramer was uncredited as an art director on the film. So much for IMDB.]
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