“All right… but Mickey, why a limey?”

Hal Sweet on the left. (With Sidney De Kantzow and Pop Kessler)

The last of the Emily “Mickey” Hahn outtakes from China’s Wings that I’ve been posting for the last week or so… (Start here and work your way forward.)

Like many of the CNAC pilots, Hal Sweet was friendly with Mickey Hahn. She and Charles Boxer had decided to get pregnant, and they’d succeeded, even though they weren’t married. Her and Charles Boxer hadn’t made any announcement, but the the whole world must have noticed, because in the summer of 1941, Mickey’s condition was obvious. However, nobody had the gumption to mention the situation to her face.

Society’s tight lips became a joke between her and Charles Boxer. They decided to award a prize to the first person to mention the pregnancy – a box of chocolates if it was a woman, a box of cigars if male.

Mickey Hahn and Mr. Mills

Hal Sweet bumped into Mickey Hahn in a shop after the DC 2 ½ episode. He hemmed and hawed and invited her for a drink. She accepted.

Sweet cleared his throat a few times once they were seated.

“Ah… Mickey… have you been married lately?”

She explained to him that he’d just won a box of cigars.

Hal Sweet frowned at her swelling tummy, “All right… but Mickey, why a limey?”

Hal Sweet and the cigars: “All right, but Mickey, why a limey?”: Hahn, Emily, China to Me, pp. 255; Cuthbertson, Ken, Nobody Said Not to Go, pp. 214, citing a personal interview with Emily Hahn.