Photo: Jack Benny, forever 39.
e’re celebrating our 39th day at the L.A. Daily Mirror by taking time to thank the readers for their patience as we unpack boxes and get accustomed to the new place.
Our numbers are slowly coming back, but in many ways we are starting from scratch as far as Google and the other search engines are concerned. Curiously, Facebook has become our No. 1 source of Web traffic while Google was by far the Daily Mirror’s biggest source of traffic at latimes.com, followed by the rest of the search engine mafia and Wikipedia.
As you may have noticed, this incarnation of the Daily Mirror is a bit different than it was at latimes.com. After six years of marching through the daily papers (two with the 1947project and four with The Times) the focus has shifted to broader view. Much of this is because I have far less time for a blog, but I think it needed a change – at least I did. The good news is that now that I’m no longer restricted to Times staffers, I can add new voices on the blog and I am pleased that several members of the brain trust have stepped forward to share their writing. More readers have offered their work and I’m going to look everything over as soon as I come up for air. So many stories, only one Larry Harnisch.
Now it’s time to ask for your suggestions. Do you prefer daily posts from a particular year or something more overarching? What would you like to see?
And thanks for reading. Tell your friends!
ladailymirror.com 
I honestly don’t care what years you pick for your goodies. It’s a history smorgasbord around here!
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I’d like at least a few columns and front pages from the last days of the MIRROR and the EXAMINER.
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@Jim: Let me see what I can pull together. Scanning the Mirror isn’t much of a problem but getting the Examiner involves microfilm.
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While Jack Benny made fun of his eternal 39 years & ‘The Horn Blows at Midnight’, the movie is a surreal delight. He’s a perfect vain angel. Besides, none of us ages in Heaven. Do we?
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It’s nice to see how an event plays out day by day, but maybe you should only post if there’s something important, pertinent, or odd for that day, not every day needs to be documented. Focusing on general issues and seeing how they evolve, such as the zoot suit riots to La Raza to Chicano movements, etc. could be exciting. It would be interesting to see how views of different ethnicities, genders, sexual orientation, etc. developed over the years. Also things like annexation or destruction of neighborhoods, politics and how it shaped the growth of Los Angeles, etc.
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So happy this blog continues to live on. News of its impending demise was a bummer. Personally, I enjoy daily front pages of anniversary years (1941 and the march toward war), 1961 and such. When else can I see a big Joan Davis obit? I used to like the page of comic strips, too. But your surprises are another reason I tune in each day.
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@Kevin: I like the front pages too. The Times, unfortunately, could have really strange ideas of what belonged on the front page — and what didn’t. The Times, for example, kept big crime stories off Page 1 in the 1940s and 50s — even the Black Dahlia except for one day. So The Times is not necessarily that representative of what was going on in the news. Many of the front pages with the screamer headlines compiled in the commemorative book were done for the Late Final news rack/street sales edition (small circulation) and not at all what people got at home. So the concept of the front pages, which seems easy, is actually more complicated.
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Thanks for the interesting reply, and for your efforts here. I forgot to put in a vote for daily columns, such as Tom Treanor, and especially Hollywood news from Hedda Hopper and Jimmie Fidler. Eagerly awaiting your look at the wild times at Lionel Atwill’s house!
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The Horn Blows At Midnight is actually a great film. And Dick Lane is in it!!
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@Rotter: Yeah, Benny used to make fun of it, but it’s enjoyable. And the huge orchestra in the opening heaven sequence is worthy of Mahler!
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Larry:
No matter what you print, I will still continue to do “hey – I wonder what happened to these folks later on?” Google searches. Sometimes, I get lucky…other times, a dead end, but either way, I love this place!
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Whatever you’re doing, it works for me — and I’m way across the country; never been to LA.
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