From Bullets to Ice Cubes

The Norge Appliance Company manufactured window iceboxes and later moved to motorized refrigeration units. The Norge brand began making home appliances in the early 1940s. Norge appliances were considered solid and reliable, perhaps built like a tank, Norge's military involvement in producing bullets, gun turrets, and airplane parts during WW2 was just as impressive. The Norge refrigeration line has a complicated history of corporate buy-outs. The company was originally a division of BorgWarner, manufacturing refrigerators made by the Ranney Refrigeration Company. The Norge refrigerator line was eventually sold in 1970 to the Fedders Corporation and approximately four years later was acquired by Magic Chef, which in turn was absorbed by Maytag in 1986. Since 2005, the Whirlpool Corporation took over any Maytag brands. 

The Black Widow

 

On this date in 1942, The prototype Northrop XP-61-NO, 41-19509, made its first flight at Northrop Field, Hawthorne, California, with freelance test pilot Vance Breese at the controls. Similar in overall layout to Lockheed's twin-boom P-38 Lightning, the XP-61 was the first American airplane designed specifically as a night fighter. The same size as a medium bomber, it was crewed by a pilot, a gunner, and a radar operator in a center “gondola” pod.

The P-61 got its eventual nickname, Black Widow, from the glossy paint scheme that scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology determined [brilliantly] black to be the best camouflage at night. Over 700 P-61s were built, serving in both the Pacific and European campaigns.

After Hours at the Library

 

This 1942 release, Quiet Please, Murder, is an enjoyable yet routine detective mystery with art forger George Sanders at his condescending best. His partner in crime is Gail Patrick, playing a phony art expert. They tolerate each other only for their monetary rewards. This unknown film was a World War II encourager in defeating the Nazis. Film vacillates between serious and humorous, making it a fast seventy minutes. Richard Denning is a standout with plenty of quips as is Byron Foulger as the nervous head librarian during an air raid. My full assessment at FORGOTTEN CINEMA.