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• Izzy Einstein Found Providence Wide Open. More Than 700 Places, He Says, Where Whiskey can be Bought, Some at 20 Cents. September 11, 1922

• Izzy and Moe Seize ‘Sacramental’ Wine. Purchase 10 Cases After Giving Password

and Using Marked Bank Notes. October 19, 1922

• In White Wing Garb Izzy and Moe Nab 71. Carrying Street Cleaning Brushes, Dry Agents Set Record for Day’s Catch. Woman Kisses Einstein. Enthusiastic Worshipper at Church Near Raided Saloon Shows Her Approval. November 20, 1922

• 53 Barrels of Wine In Stable Seized. Izzy and Moe, Posing as Fruit Vendors, Hire Wagon and Find Liquor. November 22, 1922

• Izzy and Moe Don Evening Clothes. Visit Delicatessen Shop and Later Seize $10,000 of Imported Liquor. January 13, 1923

• Izzy Pawns Coat Gets $10,000 Rum. Doubted That Throng Leaving Pawn shop With Bundles Had All Redeemed Pledges. April 12, 1923

• Einstein Has Laugh On Chicago Saloons. Izzy Keeps Their Hired Detectives Busy While Moe Smith Works Unmolested. January 13, 1924

• Izzy and Moe End Gay Careers as Dry Agents; Picturesque Pair Among 35 Finally Dropped. November 15, 1925

Retired Brigadier General Lincoln C. Andrews was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in charge of Prohibition in April, 1925 and set about reorganizing the Bureau, consolidating 48 state offices to 22 districts. All 180 prohibition agents in the Manhattan office were notified that they were terminated and instructed to report to headquarters. 145 were reinstated and 35 were let go, among them Izzy and Moe.

“General Andrews does not like prohibition agents who get too much publicity. Two months ago General Andrews gave orders that if the name of Izzy Einstein or Moe Smith appeared once in print, they would be fired. For two months their exploits have been hidden from the public eye.” — Time Magazine November 23,1925.

Despite offers from vaudeville, radio, and movies both Izzy and Moe went to work for the New York Life Insurance Company, in different offices. Izzy was reputed to have said “Yes, sir! What was good enough for ex-President Coolidge is good enough for ex-Agent Izzy Einstein!” They did very well at it, both being in the company’s 400 Club, writing at least $400,000 in business, according to the New Yorker June 6, 1936.

The New Yorker article tells of when Izzy Einstein met Albert Einstein. When Izzy asked him what line of work he was in, Albert said he was a discoverer. Izzy asked what he discovered and he said “‘stars in the sky.’” “‘So I’m a discoverer, too, I told him, only I discover in the basements. We both laughed.’”

Izzy went back to Tarnow to visit in 1928. The town held a parade in his honor and “the ovation he received was proportionately as enthusiastic as the one accorded the trans-Atlantic flyer [Lindbergh],” reported the Ogden Standard Examiner (Utah), July 8, 1928.

Izzy wrote a book, Prohibition Agent No. 1, in 1932. The Pittsburgh Press reported October 27, 1932 that Izzy dictated the book to his four sons. “‘When one got dizzy, then I’d start dictating to another,’” Only four reporters showed up at the book’s premiere. “‘What good is it to be famous yet when they forget you so soon?’” Izzy said. When Izzy tried to hand out books to various dignitaries, President Hoover wouldn’t see him and other politicians were “too busy.” But Henry Ford responded that if Izzy would go to Detroit he would see him,

The New Yorker reported that Moe said he would sue if he were mentioned by name in the book since that would make him agent no. 2. Izzy cut out Moe’s name and they remained friends. “The book sold 575 copies. ‘the publishers sent me a free copy,’ said Moe. ‘Izzy would have sent me a copy, too, if I had sent him two dollars.’” Unfortunately Izzy’s book was not reprinted and is now a rare book selling for $600.

Izzy died February 17, 1938 at 57 after an operation to amputate his right leg after an infection. Moe died in Yonkers, N.Y. December 21,1960 at 73.

Fat-Shaming the Five Pound Note

England released new plastic five pound notes in September, 2016, with the Queen on the front and Winston Churchill on the back. The plastic notes are tough enough to survive “a splash of claret, a flick of cigar ash, the nip of a bulldog and even a spin in the washing machine,” said the Governor of the Bank of England. However, this toughness comes at a price: people who snort cocaine with rolled up fivers report problems with cut noses.

But it turns out that there is animal fat in the plastic used to make the notes: “There is a trace of tallow in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the polymer £5 notes,” tweeted the Bank of England in response to an inquiry.

This outraged vegans and vegetarians. A petition to the Bank of England to lose the fat quickly gathered over 100,000 signatures. The Bank of England then said it had contacted the supplier of the plastic pellets used to make the money and “potential solutions” were being worked on.

So how much fat is in the note? One estimate is 0.00007 gram or about 1/40th the weight of a snowflake. So don’t lick your fingers to count your money.

The Churchill portrait on the back of the bill is the famous one of him scowling, taken by Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh December 30, 1941 after Churchill had given a speech to the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.

Churchill, who had not been informed that he was to be photographed, said he would allow only two minutes for the session, then lit a cigar and began puffing. Karsh diplomatically held out an ashtray but Churchill refused to surrender the cigar.

Karsh then said “Forgive me, sir,” and plucked the cigar from his mouth. “He looked so belligerent he could have devoured me,” said Karsh. The result was the famous portrait of a defiant Churchill.

Churchill was impressed by Karsh’s cheekiness and allowed him to take a picture of him smiling a little later, saying “You can even make a roaring lion stand still to photograph him.” Karsh then titled the iconic portrait “The Roaring Lion.”

The photo was on the cover of Life Magazine May 21, 1945 shortly after the surrender of Germany May 7, VE Day.

Below Churchill it says “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat,” from his first speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons on May 10, 1940.