Monthly Archives: June 2011

Jim Murray, June 9, 1961

June 9, 1961: Wrestling isn’t even a sport at all. It’s a drama in three acts in which a lot of nice old ladies get rid of all their hostilities and aggressions occasioned usually by the fact their daughters-in-law don’t … Continue reading

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North American Aviation Strike

Photograph by the Los Angeles Times Labor activists picket the North American Aviation plant in a photo published June 6, 1941. One of the first challenges in studying the 1941 North American Aviation strike is using The Times as source … Continue reading

Posted in 1910 L.A. Times bombing, 1941, LAPD, Transportation, World War II | Comments Off on North American Aviation Strike

Mayor Accuses LAPD of Spying on Political Supporters

June 9, 1961: Mayor-elect Sam Yorty comes out swinging, with charges that the LAPD was spying on his supporters, and he takes a little shot against The Times. Police Chief William H. Parker quickly disputed Yorty’s allegations, saying they were … Continue reading

Posted in #courts, 1961, art and artists, Comics, Countdown to Watts, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Comments Off on Mayor Accuses LAPD of Spying on Political Supporters

Random Shot – Downtown

Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times Don’t go looking for this. It’s gone. I found it the other day while walking from The Times to the library, but when I went back Tuesday to show it to someone, … Continue reading

Posted in art and artists, Downtown, Photography | 1 Comment

‘Hunchback Killer’ Arrested, June 8, 1941

June 8, 1941: For some time, I have been coming across stories about Alfred Horace Wells in going through the 1941 clips — “hunchback killer” is not a nickname that’s easy to forget. But I haven’t done anything on him … Continue reading

Posted in #courts, 1941, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor | 2 Comments

From the Stacks – ‘In the Wrong Rain’ (1959)

Hope died in the opening lines of “In the Wrong Rain,” and optimism succumbed a few pages later. Duty ground stubbornly ahead for a chapter or two before collapsing as well. Curiosity thumbed randomly through the book and then tossed … Continue reading

Posted in 1959, books, Columnists, From the Stacks | 1 Comment

Jim Murray, June 8, 1961

            June 8, 1961: Danny Murtaugh is like the Pirates. Tough, blue-bearded, underslung jaw, he looks like a sulfurous-tempered truck driver. Actually, he is shy and modest and the kind of worrier whose biggest fear … Continue reading

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Tip Poff, July 17, 1932

July 17, 1932: I’ve been meaning to post some of the Tip Poff  gossip columns that The Times used to run in the movie/drama pages of the 1930s. The Times experimented with the column and by 1939 was calling it … Continue reading

Posted in 1932, art and artists, Columnists, Comics, Courts, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off on Tip Poff, July 17, 1932

North American Aviation Strike

  June 7, 1941: The strike at the North American Aviation plant, in which Army troops dispersed union activists and took over an essential American defense facility,  is one of the landmark events in Los Angeles history. Because of its … Continue reading

Posted in Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | 1 Comment

Jim Murray, June 7, 1961

        June 7, 1961: Gene Tunney's chief claim to fame is he licked an over-aged Jack Dempsey twice. It won him respect but not affection. A peculiar thing about the public is it resents a man who … Continue reading

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, boxing, Columnists | 1 Comment

Police Chief on His Way Out

           June 6, 1941: Police Chief Arthur Hohmann and Deputy Chief C.B. “Jack” Horrall are about to trade jobs.  Horrall will remain chief through World War II and into the postwar period, finally retiring during the … Continue reading

Posted in 1941, City Hall, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor | 1 Comment

Remembering Robert F. Kennedy

        Robert F. Kennedy, Ambassador Hotel, June 5, 1968.       I pulled together a series of posts in 2008 for the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel. Here’s … Continue reading

Posted in 1968, RFK | Comments Off on Remembering Robert F. Kennedy

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

      Los Angeles Times file photo   [Update: Well our torrid mystery gal stumped everybody! I wish I had more photos of her, but there aren’t any. This is Ann Ainslee in “White Cargo,”  a rather notorious Los … Continue reading

Posted in Mystery Photo, Photography | 13 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

      Los Angeles Times file photo   [Update:  Dorothy Ford, one of Earl Carroll's most beautiful girls, swims and rides horseback for relaxation between nightly appearances at the Hollywood Carroll theater, in a photo published Oct. 11, 1941.] … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | 42 Comments

Jim Murray, June 6, 1961

            June 6, 1961: Track and field is still a wholesome LIVING sport, not bound down to tradition like, say, baseball. A trophy for everything and everything for a trophy. I don't know whether you … Continue reading

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, Columnists, Comics, Track and Field | 2 Comments

Times Woman of the Year – Anais Nin

          I stumbled across this article while searching for something else (research is like that) and was stunned. When I started at The Times in the late 1980s, the Women of the Year Awards were viewed … Continue reading

Posted in 1976, books | Comments Off on Times Woman of the Year – Anais Nin

Jim Murray, June 5, 1961

        June 5, 1961: It is always a source of wonder to me that a sport as savage and cruel as prizefighting doesn't brutalize its practitioners. Yet, it doesn't. A ballplayer after losing a game is a … Continue reading

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, boxing, Columnists, Comics | 1 Comment

Senator Demands Probe of Lewd ‘Soundies’

    July 2, 1941: Sam Coslow announces a deal with Mills Novelty Co. to produce 208 "soundies"  and plans to make 20 of them in the next month, directed by Josef Berne. The acts include Gale Page, Martha Tilton, … Continue reading

Posted in 1941, Film, Hollywood, Music | 4 Comments

June 4, 1941: Burbank Man Invents Death Ray!

June 4, 1941: I’ll admit I’m a sucker for stories about death rays. Evidently The Times’ editors were too since they put this item on Page 1. Promoter Kurt Van Zuyle credited L.E. Riley of Burbank as the inventor. It … Continue reading

Posted in #courts, 1941, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Death Rays, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor | Comments Off on June 4, 1941: Burbank Man Invents Death Ray!

Jim Murray, June 4, 1961

          June 4, 1961: Jim Murray puts in a call to Casey Stengel and says: "I realized I was listening to the Voice of Baseball again. And what it is doing in a bank vault in … Continue reading

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