CLAMOUR FOR CLOCKS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1943, Page 2

CLAMOUR FOR CLOCKS

POLICE HANDLE CROWD

UNUSUAL, WARTIME SCENE

(0.C.) SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 9,

Saucer-eyed, an unbelieving Californian witnessed one of its most unusual wartime scenes—a sale of 500 new alarm clocks. As befits such a rare occasion, the episode, enacted in the heart of Burbank in the warplane zone of California, a community of early-rising war workers, was fully recorded for posterity, all the newspapers, the newsreels and even a magazine being represented. Emergency police were called to handle the throngs of would-be buyers who assembled in front of a jewellery store long before the scheduled opening of the sale at 9.30 a.m. One man, Mr. William Wright, kept an all-night vigil in front of the establishment, determined to be the first to buy a clock. "It is very important that I have one," he explained. "Got to get my wife up in time so I can have breakfast before I go to work." Even servicemen were among those waiting in line. Sergeant Del Campa related he needed one so he could get up in time to wake up the rest of the men in his 'unit. Said Mrs. M. F. Nicely: "I go to work at midnight at Lockheed. My old clock has been on the blink, so I had to sit up, waiting for 12 o'clock to roll along. That meant I didn't get much sleep. Now I'll be able to rest, so I can work better." The clocks, imported- from Switzerland sold for 4 dollars 50 cents each, plus Federal and State taxes, which brought it to a total of 5 dollars 6 cents.