apologetic but cooperative airport officials. The takeoff from Chicago was held amid high ceremony and a whipping cold wind, which chased the men inside the planes as soon as the large bevy of photographers had completed its work. First the Packers lined up outside their planes for pictures, and then some novelty shorts were suggested. One photographer wanted a picture of Cecil Isbell throwing a pass to Don Hutson. No football being available, Isbell threw a stewardess, Roberta Shilbach by name, and the pass was a complete success..STEWARDESS KICKS BALL: Then a football turned up, and Miss Schilbach booted a couple of trial kickoffs for publicity purposes with Isbell holding the ball. By this time, the Packers were chilled thoroughly, and they piled into the planes...ROBINSON CAN'T GO: E.J. Robinson, Press-Gazette advertising manager, was to have gone on that flight, but
an appendectomy the previous afternoon removed him
from the picture. The flight from Chicago to Cleveland
was made above the clouds at 9,000 feet, with the
players catching only scattered glimpses of the ground.
The air line added color to the event by painting its
planes "Green Bay Packer Football Special" and by
serving a special menu with the printed greeting, "United
Air Lines Welcomes the Packers and Enjoys the
Privilege of Giving Them a Flying Start". The bump in
the schedule program won't prevent the Packers from
flying home Monday as arranged previously. They
expect to leave New York at 9:30 in the morning and will
arrive at Green Bay on the 8:30 Milwaukee road train
that evening - provided the return flight isn't grounded.
The payers, many of whom stated the flight skeptically,
arrived at Cleveland full of good food and enthusiastic
about the whole business. There even was talk of flying
to Detroit and Cleveland for the two final games on the
Green Bay schedule.
PACKERS ARRIVE IN NEW YORK FOR GAME WITH
GIANTS
NOV 15 (New York) - The Green Bay Packer football
team, stymied near the halfway point on its scheduled
airplane flight from Chicago to New York, climbed from a
New York Central sleeper at 8:30 this morning into a
drizzling raw Manhattan rain. Despite the extremely
unfavorable weather conditions - it has been raining here
since Monday - the Packers were ordered out for
practice at Central park. Coach E.L. Lambeau admitted
his is worried at the shortage of the Packers drill schedule this week. Monday's windstorm and Tuesday's cold weather stopped the team in Green Bay, only a short drill was held before the equipment was packed Wednesday, Thursday was spent traveling and now Friday finds the turf soggy and the skies wet...GOES TO HOTEL: The squad came to the Hotel New Yorker immediately after its arrival at Grand Central station, the occasion being marked only by a severe conversational battle between Buckets Goldenberg and Baby Ray as to whether or not the Harlem river was the Harlem river. Last evening in Cleveland the players were treated to an hour-long musical program at the Hotel Cleveland, following their evening meal and before embarking for New York. A string ensemble played at the players' request, aided by musician Hal Van Every, who took over the piano for a few hot chords. After today's workout the squad was to be turned loose to see the city sights, but because of the soupy weather most of them already have announced their preference for picture shows or a few hours with the magazines.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
NOV 15 (Cleveland) - The most dangerous part of a plane trip is that period when the ground limousine whisks you through jammed metropolitan traffic to the airport, the Green Bay Packers decided Thursday after taking the first mass flight en route to a professional football game. From Chicago to Cleveland, the Eastern invasion was a mighty success, and there didn't appear to be a Packer who wasn't anxious to try it again, despite a long collection of lugubrious remarks which were emitted at the Chicago airport before they boarded the planes. Clarke Hinkle was the outstanding convert. Probably several other of the Packers - 90 percent of whom never had flown commercially before - were just as jittery, but Clarke did the most talking about it and so drew the greatest chorus of jibes. "Is Hinkle really scared about this flight, or is he just putting it on?" we asked. "Hinkle," pronounced Tiny Engebretsen, "has been turning white for a week every time he saw a bird." "Herber doesn't like it either," chimed in Buckets Goldenberg. "He said to me this morning that if he was supposed to fly, he'd have been given wings." "There's nothing to worry about," Russ Letlow said reassuringly. "Hell, we're insured, ain't we?" There was a thoughtful silence after this remark. Herber saundered up eating an ice cream cone and was denounced soundly for breaking training. "Why didn't you take an apple instead?" demanded Coach Lambeau. Herber considered the idea a moment and then said he didn't like apples. Hal Van Every started out by saying, "Hey, stewardess" to the young lady in charge and wound up by crooning, "Good bye, Roberta". As the plane started slipping down the clouds above Cleveland, she called out, "If your ears hurt, try yawning, swallowing, and blowing your nose." "All at once?" asked Carl Mulleneaux, who was holding down the last seat in the mainliner. By this time Hinkle was raving about the future of commercial flying. At the Chicago airport, he hadn't even liked the football special" sign on the planes. "Who's going to see that up where where we are?" he snorted. Just to keep the historical records intact, the menu included fresh fruit cocktail, wafers, roast beef, buttered beans, parsley, potatoes, hot rolls, hearts of lettuce with sliced tomatoes, Thousand Island dressing, coffee or milk, and chocolate ice cream molds shaped like footballs.
PRO GRID NOTES
NOV 15 (Green Bay) - Grenny Landsdell, all-America back from Southern California, has been shipped to the Jersey farm club by the New York Giants. Landsdell has great possibilities but Coach Steve Owen figured more seasoning would do him good...Aldo Forte, tackle from Montana, is one of the "hometown" Chicagoans playing with the Bears. This is his second season with Halas and company. Forte is an aggressive lineman and he knows just how to use his 212 poundage...Ed Justice is again seeking service with Washington. The veteran back was on the hospital list for four games but Coach Red Flaherty armed him with a pad and pencil and turned him loose around the circuit as a Redskin scout...Kent Ryan has been enjoying another good year with the Detroit Lions. The Utah State backfielder always has possessed a lot of color. He has developed into a great defender against passes with interceptions his specialty...Mike Rodak, the Cleveland halfback, won't have to worry about a job when the curtain drops on the football season because he was recently elected as town marshal in the West Virginia community. The Rams now call Rodak "copper"...George Kiick, former Bucknell star, has been more than earning his salt with the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is Kiick's first year of postgraduate football but it didn't take him long to get the feel of things on the pro grid...Three other intersectional games are also carded this weekend. Detroit invades Philadelphia, the Cleveland Rams will display their overheard drive at Brooklyn, while the Green Bay Packers tangle with the Giants in New York...It was a surprise weekend in the NFL as three of the "underdog" teams triumphed. As a result the races in both the Eastern and Western divisions are closely bunched and next Sunday's games may further scramble the chase...Down Detroit way, the gridiron fans are singing the praise of Cotton Brice, recruit quarterback. The Texan hurled a touchdown pass in the last minute of play which enabled the Lions to knock off the Chicago Bears, 17-14.
PACKERS PLAY IN NEW YORK
NOV 16 (New York) - The Green Bay Packers, fighting to stay in the running for the western division title in the NFL, went through a brisk workout here today and announced themselves as ready to take the measure of the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds Sunday. Coach E.L. (Curly) Lambeau of the Packers said his squad showed more spirit and drive in the workouts yesterday and today than they had shown at any other time this year. If the Packers beat the Giants and the Chicago Bears lose to Washington in their game at the capital tomorrow, the Bears and Green Bay would be tied for first place in the western division, each with two games remaining on their schedule. The Packers still must face the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Rams and the Bears are to meet Cleveland and the Chicago Cardinals after Sunday's game. The Packers are favored over the Giants who are seriously weakened by injuries to their best backs, Tuffy Leemans and Eddie Miller.
PACKERS BATTLE GIANTS ON RAIN-SOAKED GROUNDS
NOV 16 (New York) - Manhattan's traffic drains to the Polo Grounds Sunday afternoon, when at 2 o'clock, Eastern time, the Western Green Bay Packers and the Eastern New York Giants will face combat with all the color traditional to this meeting of old professional rivals. It will be a NFL game, and should the Packers come back downtown in possession of a victory, they will need only a tripping for the passless Chicago Bears to return them to a tie for the Western division lead. Pouring rain, which had soaked Broadway for a week, finally stopped falling Friday, half an hour before the Packers left the Hotel New Yorker for Central park and their drill field at 97th street. Finding a high spot of ground, and failing to meet the news photographers who were scheduled to take pictures before the workout, the Packers moved into a spirited drill, the first real practice they had had since the Chicago Cardinal game last Sunday. They punted, threw passes, ran plays, set up a defense and romped through their whole offensive repertoire with machine-line precision. Near the end of the drill, plodding across a muddy field and lugging expensive equipment came come 25 or 30 photographers, who had been directed to the wrong park entrance and has been waiting patiently for a Green Bay squad which didn't show up. There were angry words, with which were mingled the accusation that the Packers were trying to "hide out" on the press. Coach Curly Lambeau pointed out that the drill was held at the same field the Packers have been using for years and finally the error was pined onto Ned Irish, publicity director of the Giants. No blood was shed...JANKOWSKI, LAWS OUT: Eddie Jankowski, fullback, was in uniform for the first time since before the Bear game, but looked in no condition to play, and of course Joe Laws wasn't even in uniform. Neither is likely to enter combat Sunday, but the balance of the squad seems fit and anxious for trouble. It would be interesting to find out just where those rumors of Packer squad dissension originated. The
team travels, eats, sleeps, trains together in the most
perfect harmony, and if one or two young players who'd
like to be used more are getting their heads together in
private, no one seems to know about it. The Packers
today hears about a faithful group of fans who awaited
their arrival at La Guardia airport Thursday afternoon,
only to be disappointed when word arrived that the
Green Bay planes had been grounded in Cleveland.
Louis Cook, former Green Bay resident, Otto Christoph,
who flew from Argentina for the occasions, and Orville
Thomas, coast guardsman for 13 years, Green Bay
native, and now stationed at Cape Cod, were among the
unofficial welcoming committee which didn't get a
chance to welcome...MEETS MAX BAER: The writer
had a barber chair's conversation Friday with Max Baer,
the former champion of swat who is to be starred in a
Broadway musical production. "I just came down in the
elevator with four of the Packers," Baer commented. "It
is the first time I ever felt small. Those guys are big,
aren't they?" Subsequent questioning developed that
Baer's fellow travelers, vertical style, were Baby Ray,
Tiny Engebretsen, Bill Lee and Buckets Goldenberg.
Baer is staying at the New Yorker. Run through tough
drills Friday morning and today, the Packers have been
given the rest of the time off to see the city. They spend
most of their spare time in picture shows, most of them
having been New York victims before. The boys plunged
into the Radio league without delay, the first call being
issued for Hutson over WOR, when he was interviewed
by Stan Lomax late Friday afternoon...LAMBEAU ON
AIR: Late that evening Coach Curly Lambeau visited
WOR's station above Broadway and was interviewed for
Mutual system listeners by Red Barber, veteran of 11
years of sportscasting. Barber asked the usual
questions, drawing from Lambeau the prediction that
should the Bears lost Sunday and the Packers win, it
will be the Green Bay team which faces Washington in
the league playoff Dec. 8. Lambeau also praised the
consistency and fine work of fullback Clarke Hinkle,
stating that in his opinion the veteran is faster this year
than at any time in his long career. A large crowd is anticipated - Irish doesn't know how many - and it is probable that a throng upwards of 30,000 will attend, despite the fact that the Giants' pennant chances are colder than a popsicle in the stratosphere, and the Packers aren't riding the crest of their usual victory wave...SEE THREE GAMES: The reason is that the Packers are surrounded by synthetic Metropolitan alumni. There are thousands of of New Yorkers who see three football games a year , and three only - Packers at the Giants, Chicago Bears at the Giants, and Notre Dame against the Army at the Polo Grounds. They call the Notre Dame followers "subway alumni", and the Packers seem to have a similar varsity rooting for them. The Packers' chances here are regarded as higher than the Empire State building, but there are ominous signs. For one thing, the Giants were ordered into scrimmage this week for the first time in more than a month, signifying a serious trend of mind despite an impressive string of injuries. The Polo Grounds turf will be very heavy. We ran out and looked over the gridiron today, to find it muddy and slow, with slight prospect of improving before Sunday. This will slow down the Packer passing attack and is likely to halt the New York overhead game altogether.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
NOV 16 (New York) - Not in search of information, but desiring to meet the man who has helped put across a sensational radio program - and who needs only one of those quirks of the entertainment world to be another Will Rogers - we accompanied Coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers on a visit to John Kieran. You've seen Kieran in films and heard him on the air as one of the stars in the "Information Please" program. He's the droll fellow with the enormous ears and amused expression who seems to know the answer to just about everything. Besides his cinema and radio work, he's sport editor of the New York Times and has been an avowed friend of the Packers. The reputation for omniscience, he confessed, has proved a little irksome since picture goers learned to recognize him from his screen likeness and chose to test his apparent world knowledge with singularly ill-selected queries at equally unfortunate times. In fact, Kieran became quite harsh about it. Just like little fellows want to slug Jack Dempsey, so they can tell people they've aimed a swat at the former champion, Kieran is forced to answer a vast collection of foolish questions. "It keeps me from visiting with my friends," he complained. "If I start a conversation, some dope is sure to come over and pop a question which no human being could answer." In between times, Kieran interviewed Curly, digging out a volume of information, which he pecked down methodically on his typewriter, disdaining the use of pencil notes. Shrewdly, and echoing sentiment of Broadway sports columnists, he opened fire with: "Are they going to force you Green Bay folks out of the National league?" Curly ducked that one, saying merely that there'd be a lot of disappointed people in Wisconsin if they did. He explained the extent of the Packers' great drawing area, as Kieran nodded thoughtfully. Kieran was interested to hear about the weekend reunion of the Svendsens. George, the huge center of the Packers, is here to keep that date with the Giants Sunday afternoon. Earl, his younger brother, a former Packers, will be with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets field the same afternoon, when the Dodgers entertain the Cleveland Rams. And this afternoon both older Svendsens were at Baker field to see Kid Brother Eddie with the Navy team, which plays Columbia. Eddie is not expected to play, however, because of a hip injury he received in the Notre Dame game last week. Red Smith, Packer assistant coach who is a pal of Columbia's Lou Little, took a few of the players to that one. Kieran is smaller than you'd think, older than he appears in films, with Celtic blue eyes and an Irish grin which is infectious. He wore a brown suit decorated only by a Red Cross pin. "I'll give you a blow for Sunday," he promised, and he will.
GIANTS MUST TOP PACKERS - OR ELSE
NOV 16 (New York) - End Bolo Perdue and guard Pete Cole returned from the injured list and will be ready for service in the Giant line against the Green Bay Packers tomorrow. Coach Steve Owen sent the team through a two-hour workout on the sloppy Polo Grounds gridiron yesterday - using most of the session to polish up his new backfield, Leemans, Nielsen, McLaughry and Shaffer. They'll start against the Packers. The Giants must win or be mathematically eliminated from the race.