Tension roiled throughout world headlines on May 15, 1939. England, France and the Soviet Union argued over a mutual aid treaty with Turkey. (The treaty would be signed the following month, but broken by Turkey two years later, as that country allied with Germany for much of the war.) Meanwhile, Italy opened a military airfield near the French border. In the US, President Roosevelt and the Senate jockeyed over taxes, while the years-long Harlan County mine strikes neared their end, as Kentucky Governor (and future MLB commissioner) Happy Chandler sent 900 members of the National Guard to intervene between strikers and mine operators.
May 15, 1939 was also the last date to send in your matchbooks for a tube of Bost Toothpaste and a Tefra refillable toothbrush. In the 1930s, Bost claimed to be the best-selling toothpaste in the country, while Tefra had patented a toothbrush with replaceable bristles. Both companies were owned by Barbasol, which stopped manufacturing these products in the 1940s.
Based in Indianapolis, most Bost employees were probably Cubs fans. The Cubs were in Pittsburgh that day, taking care of the Pirates 6-2. With the game tied 2-2 in the third, Billy Herman led off with a double, coming around to score on a base hit by Rip Sewell, and the Cubs never looked back.
Bost Toothpaste and the Tefra refillable toothbrush were both new to me. Now I'm gonna have to look up refillable toothbrushes.
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