Immovable Object (1946); Tennis Bum; Mousetrap: Cliffhanger

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IMMOVABLE OBJECT (continued)

   "An immovable object" was the header of a Red Smith column earlier in 1946.  These breakers are from Views of Sport by Red Smith, NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 10 November 1946, section 3, pg. 2, col. 5:

_The Irresistible Force_
(...)
_...and the Immovable Object_

(The text is about college football-ed.)

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TENNIS BUMS

   From the NYHT, 14 October 1946, pg. 19, cols. 1-2:

_Swedish Davis Cup Team Takes_
_Pot Shot at U. S. "Tennis Bums"_

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MOUSETRAP

   From the caption of a football photo in the NYHT, 29 October 1946, pg. 35, cols. 3-7:

_Cornell Shows How to Mousetrap a Guard in Victory Over Princeton_

(Was the "trap block" originally called "mousetrap"?--ed.)

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"THAT HORSE AIN'T BLIND, HE JUST DON'T GIVE A DARN"

   Cited earlier, from 1948.
   An editorial cartoon in the NYHT, 2 November 1946, pg. 10, cols. 5-7, "Well, That Explains It."
   The mule "STRIKING LABOR" hits his head into a tree.

MAN:  GOOD HEAVENS IS THAT MULE BLIND?
FARMER:  NAW!  HE AIN'T BLIND.  HE JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN!

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CLIFF-HANGERS

   The title of an article in THIS WEEK magazine, NYHT, 20 October 1946.

Pg. 15, col. 2:  Between two and three minutes are devoted to titles and the "take-out"--the rescue of the hero or heroine from the utterly hopeless situation in which they found themselves at the climax of the preceding episode.

Pg. 15, col. 2:  He does--just as the heavies start to drag the girl away--and now we are into the "middle action," which is another term for a slam-bang fight.

Pg. 26, col. 3:  "We don't want it great," the saying goes, "we want it Friday."

Pg. 27, col. 1:  The leading or "clean" heavy is the suave, sinister figure behind the villainy, and his menace is conveyed by voice and manner rather than by physical violence.  The wretch who performs the strong-arm thuggery is known, by contrast, as the "dirty" or "dog" heavy.

Pg. 27, col. 2:  The toughest problem of the serial writer is to dream up new and ingenious perils for the "baddies" to inflict on the "goodies," along with means of extricating (Col. 3--ed.) the goodies in the following episode.  The latter is accomplished through a handy, but fraudulent device known as a "cheater-cut," which consists of the introduction of a few feet of film showing a hiterto-unnoticed avenue of escape for the intended victim.

Pg. 27, col. 3:  AT THE edge of the precipice she grabbed a tree, from which she is dangling when hauled to safety by the hero.  It is from this time-honored rescue that the name "cliff-hanger" is derived.