The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 32

Publication:
The Los Angeles Timesi: Location:
Los Angeles, California: Issue Date:
Monday, March 22, 1943: Page:
32

i Part IT-MONDAY, MAR. 22, 1 943 1 03 3ngClCS CfotCS 1 Zoot Suits Still Parade Here Despite O.P.A. Ban Draped Garments to Disappear When Present Wardrobes Gone, Because Output Halted County Loses 2190 Employees in 10 Months .1 IN STYLE These are zoot suits as seen by staff artist. 4 BRITISH TRICKS PUZZLE EX-PURCHASING AGENT Finns Here Will Spur Bond Sales A Finnish-American committee stimulate the sale of War Bonds was organized last night at a meeting of Los Angeles Finnish organizations at the Finnish Lutheran Church, 4003 W. Adams Blvd. Organizations represented were the Finnish-American Society, Junior Finlandia, Finnish Lutheran Church', Finnish Congregational Church, Rumeberg Lodge and Finnish Sewing Circle. in it because it is so ample all around and because with-it usually goes a very wide hat, with a telescoped crown, worn low down on the head. All AVorst Features The zoot suit seems to have been an attempt by some malicious designers to make a style embodying all the worst features of men's clothes for the last 50 years, the peg top pants, the high waist up under the armpits, and the long, loose-backed coat. For luck they sprinkled pleats here and there. Zoot suits were made by manufacturers all over the country, and sold like hot cakes. The more conservative young men didn't go for them, not even the college boys who, the Lord knows, are not very conservative. They went for them in the foreign districts; in fact the name seems to derive from a mispronunciation of the word "suit." "I wanna buya zoot," the customers would say in East St Louis. "I wunt pay no mor'n $20, wid altercations." "Very well, sir," the clerk would answer. "Here you have a very stylish zoot." Origin Xot Clear Some say the style originated in Chicago, others Los Angeles, inspired by some clothes worn in a Hollywood period picture. The origin is not clear, but the result is. There is no mistak- BY TIMOTHY TURNER The zoot suit was man's attempt to look as silly as some women make themselves look. It was an utter failure. In Los Angeles zoot suits are still widely worn among a certain clientele on the other side of the tracks, worn with gusto by young men who are not afraid to be different. But they violate O.P.A. rules at so many places that long since none have been and when the current ones are, worn out there will be no more zoot suits. Latterly a Southern California judge condemned two young Mexicans who had been boisterous near a cop to wear their zoot suits no longer, and they wept, actually wept, so much does youth want to be outlandish. Xo Badge of Clime His honor was barking up the wrong tree, however, for the zoot suit is no label of juvenile delinquency. Many a young Mexican in a zoot suit works hard and takes his money home to mamacita for frijoles refritos, and many a young zoot-suited Negro never shoots craps and goes to the Bapist church every Sunday. You still see many zoot suits in Belvedere Gardens and along Central Ave. Sometimes you see one walking down Broadway. The zoot suit looks as if it were out for a walk with nobody There are 2190 less employees on the county government pay rolls today than there were 10 months ago, according to" statistics on file in the offife o'f Supervisor William A. Smith. According to the report there are now 14,992 county employees. In May last year there were 17,182. "We now have," the Supervisor said, "a total of 1396 county employees in the armed services in all parts of the world and leaves of absence for this service are being granted by the county at the rate of 40 a M- -Jm. "Separations from county-service," Smith added, "largely for higher pay in defense industries, are declining steadily. Last October there were 462 separations, 445 in November, 332 in December, 310 in January and 242 last month. "The six-day week, permitting one day a week more pay but at regular rates and with no overtime bonus, plus the $10 per month pay rise effective Jan. 1 last, have been responsible largely for the separation decline." The Supervisor asserted that the decline in construction activities due to priorities on materials, the decrease of county relief cases and the willingness of county employees to bear greater work loads have enabled the county to maintain a high standard of service with reduced personnel. "Where did you get that can top?" asked Col. Allen. "Why that's the lid from my 'dust was the answer. "Dust bin?" questioned Cdl. Allen. "Let's see it." Sure enough, it was an ordinary American garbage can. Col. Allen hurried back to headquarters and put a call through to the British office, this time asking if any dust bins were available. "Certainly, sir, plenty of them, how many do you want?" RECREATION Test Pilot Frank Davis flies untried fighting planes by day. On the evenings of his leisure he tinkers with his collection of ancient watches. When Col. Wayne R. Allen, now in the Army, was County Manager and Purchasing Agent, he was one of the most competent purchasers the county government ever had. In England, however, where the colonel is head of the department of service and supply, he is learning some new tricks in the business, according to his letters reaching home. Not so long ago Col. Allen was in the market for a lot of garbage cans and was informed by the British they had none. So he started a requisition to his homeland for the needed equipment. Then, one day, he was visiting a cousin who lives in England and the relative was showing him, with great pride, his Victory garden. One of the things he was exceptionally proud of was circular designs made in the garden with the top of a large can. ing a zoot suit once you see it, there, being nothing subtle in the style. It is in fact a kind of a burlesque suit of clothes, a sartorial practical joke that was taken seriously. If clothes are worn for satis Council Acts to Curb Defense Exploitation City Council has authorized the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance making it unlawful for any person to disclose the name, address tr telephone number of any member of the various civilian defense organizations to anyone for po faction of the inner man the zoot suit has fulfilled its purpose. It has given joy to the wearers, and probably to their girl friends who have come to associate the zoot suit with manly virtue and an elegance of sorts. For style, like love, is an illusion. Watch Fixing Gives Diversion fo Test Pilot Frank Davis is an ace test pilot and an engineer and he also can fix a watch. By day Davis flies and pores over engineering data on planes, but in the evening he often has a jeweler's glass in his eye and grinds hair springs on a home FIRST QUARTER VICTORY TAX PAYMENTS DUE Employers who have been collecting the 5 per cent Victory tax from their employees since the first of this year yesterday were called upon by Nat Itogan, collector of internal revenue, to send in the amounts collected during the first quarter next month. To enable employers to expedite the payment, forms will be sent out, starting today, to some 90,000 employers in the Southern California district. litical or advertising purposes. made lathe for one or another of his remarkable watches. Davis is liable to pull a 100- year-old English watch with a Program Set for Industrial chain drive out of his pocket if you ask him what time it is a watch built before temperature-control balance wheels were thought of. Or it might be an ancient five-minute repeater, the chimes of which are a source of constant entertainment for those around him. Or a split-second chronograph, a minute repeater or another minute repeater with Meeting Here The fifth annual Southern California Industrial Conference will be conducted In Los Angeles April 7 under sponsorship of the a calendar on its face may pop out of his watch pocket. He National Association of Manu i i 4 i has a score of old watches, never having bought a new one. facturers with five organizations co-operating. Hundreds of Southland industrial and business leaders usually attend the conference which this Davis was graduated from Pasadena High School and Cal- tech, which gave him his degree In aeronautical engineering. He flew vrtth the United States marines three years and has been testing warplanes for Vultee Aircraft for three years. He was all-conference running guard and champion hammer thrower; is married and has one small child. year will consist of a forum beginning at 2 p.m. and a dinner beginning at 7 p.m. Both will be in the Biltmore. Talks Scheduled The forum, featuring Association Vice-President Walter B. Weisenburger in a discussion of 'New Ideas on War and Labor Problems" will include a. talk on man power by Regional Director William K. Hopkins of the War Manpower Commission, a national legislative review by Association Counsel It. S. Smet- is iiiiiiiii the fresh, immaculate effect of a dress shirt, but unmistakably jdji Empire Region Leaders Chosen Appointment of County Supervisors to various committees of the Southern California Empire Organization, comprised of the seven southern counties of the State, was announced yesterday by Supervisor Gordon L. Mc-Donough, chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. They are: Supervisor William A. Smith, who will serve as chairman of the legislative committee of the Empire; Supervisor MeDonough, highway committee; Supervisor John Anson Ford, natural resources committee; Supervisor Oscar Hauge, parks and beaches committee, and Supervisor Roger Jessup, industrial committee. feminine blouses with a delicate charm in keeping with such fine batiste, such dainty workmanship 5.95 and 10.95 second floor hurst, a talk on wage stabilization by Regional Director Thomas Fair Neblett of the Regional War Labor Board and a presentation of "Your Case Before the War Labor Board" by President Almon E. Roth of the San Francisco Employers' Council and a W.L.B. member. The dinner address will be given by Association President Frederick C. Crawford on "New Ideas for the Future." First item on the program will be the presentation of a number of heroes of the fighting line followed by heroes of the production line and then the showing of a motion picture, "Postmark U.S.A.," made by Paramount Pictures in co-operation with the association. Zellerbarh to Preside Presiding at the dinner will be Association Regional Vice-President J. D. Zellerbach. Association Director K. T. Norris will be toastmaster. Co-operating in the event are the Chamber of Commerce, Merchants and Manufacturers Association, Metal Trades Manufacturers' Association, Oil Producers' Agency and San Diego Employers' Association. ingers of sunshine point up your cosiume Jews Mark Death of Ancient Tyrant Celebrating the Feast of Purim, special religious ceremonies yesterday were conducted in Jewish synagogues and homes throughout the Southland and the entire nation to celebrate the passing of Haman, a Hitler of ancient days. The festival, which lasted from sunset Saturday until twilight yesterday, commemorates the death of the tyrant on the scaffold. Sermons likening Hitler's fate to that of Haman were preached by many rabbis. the accessory room brings you the deep, yellow-gold of sunshine in gloves to lend brightness and tone to your suit three lengths In soft, doeskin-finished lambskin 5.50, 6.50, and 8.95 street floor 1 1 A IM if a Woman Ferrying Unit Member Killed Cornelia Fort, 23, second wo-man to enlist in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, was killed yesterday In the crash of an Army plane near Merkel, the ferrying division of the Air Transport Command at Long Beach revealed. Miss Fort, native of Tennessee, wa3 on a routine ferrying flight when the crash occurred. UiMlWVW proudly present. tuxedo suii Guard Officers Will Discuss Tenney Bill Members of the California Guard Officers Association will meet Friday at 8 p.m. in the auditorium of the State Building to discuss plans for support of Senator Jack Ten-ney's bill to reorganize the guard. Invited to attend are officers of California State military units, past and present. Maj. Claude H. McFadden, legal adviser to the Board of Supervisors, will analyze the various guard reorganization bills now pending at Sacramento. all the spirit and flair of a man's dinner jacket captured here the same true lines, the same distinctive cut, translated into an exquisitely feminine suit midnight blue or black wool with faille revers 45.00 wynshire shop third floon Injuries in Fall Fatal to Workman Injured last Jan. 23 when he fell 40 feet off a scaffolding at the California Shipbuilding Corp. yards at Terminal Island, John A. Zimkoskl, 53-year-old electrician of 9331 Truba South Gate, died last night at the Seaside Hospital in Long Beach. He leaves his widow. War Writer to Speak John Burton, scientist and war correspondent, will be the guest speaker Wednesday at a Lawyers' Club luncheon at the Rosslyn. Club members also will hear a committee report on new bills awaiting action in the State Legislature.