Author Archives: lmharnisch

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 17, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1952 Stanley Kramer/Columbia picture “The Sniper,” with Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, Frank Faylen, Richard Kiley, Mabel Paige, Marlo Dwyer and Geraldine Carr. Screenplay by Harry Brown, story by Edna and … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 58 Comments

How to Fix Archive.Org Thumbnails

Posted on August 16, 2020 by lmharnisch

One of the annoyances of Archive.org is that thumbnails seem to be assigned randomly instead of properly displaying the cover. If you Google for instructions, you will find them needlessly complex. Here’s the nearly painless way to fix them. After … Continue reading →

Posted in 1976, Libraries | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

St. Francis Dam Under Construction

Posted on August 15, 2020 by lmharnisch

This is a clip from “The Temptress” (1926) showing the St. Francis dam under construction. The dam failed in 1928, and the flood left hundreds of people dead or missing. The incident is referred to in “Chinatown” (1974) as the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1926, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 10, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1926 MGM film of Vicente Blasco Ibanez’s “The Temptress,” with Greta Garbo, Antonio Moreno, Marc MacDermott/McDermott, Lionel Barrymore, Armand Kaliz, Roy D’Arcy, Robert Andersen, Francis McDonald, Hector V. Sarno and Virginia Brown Faire. Scenario … Continue reading →

Posted in 1926, 1928, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 45 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Your Girl and Mine’ Promotes Women’s Suffrage

Posted on August 10, 2020 by lmharnisch

“Your Girl and Mine,” Moving Picture World. Note: This is an encore post from 2015. From the 1840s on, many women in the United States fought to vote. Considered merely chattel, like slaves, women were forced to endure horrible marriages, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Your Girl and Mine’ Promotes Women’s Suffrage

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Horse Racing and Can’t Wait

Posted on August 3, 2020 by lmharnisch

Feb. 15, 1938: Stagehand noses out Can’t Wait. Note: This is an encore post from 2012. Horse racing has always been considered the sport of kings, because it requires so much money for housing, training, feeding, and transporting horses.  In … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Sports | Tagged , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Horse Racing and Can’t Wait

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 3, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1948 Twentieth Century-Fox film “The Snake Pit,” with Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Glenn Langan, Helen Craig, Leif Erickson, Beulah Bondi, Lee Patrick, Howard Freeman, Natalie Schafer, Ruth Donnelly, Katherine … Continue reading →

Posted in 1948, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 42 Comments

A Note to Scotty Bowers’ Fans

Posted on August 1, 2020 by lmharnisch

The announcement that an untitled Scotty Bowers project is in the works at Fox Searchlight has generated new interest in a series of posts I did on Bowers’ “Full Service” in 2012.

Posted in 2012, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: George P. Hommel, Pensive Photographer

Posted on July 27, 2020 by lmharnisch

Overshadowed by the work of 1920s Paramount colleagues Donald Biddle Keyes and Eugene Robert Richee, stillsman George P. Hommel crafted thoughtful portraits highlighting both the beauty and sorrow of those he photographed. Like Keyes,  the peripatetic Hommel always looked for … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: George P. Hommel, Pensive Photographer

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 27, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1938 RKO picture “Condemned Women,” with Sally Eilers, Louis Hayward, Anne Shirley, Esther Dale, Lee Patrick, Leona Roberts, George Irving, Richard Bond, Netta Packer, Rita LaRoy and Florence Lake. Musical direction by Roy Webb, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1938, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 49 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 20, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Columbia picture “Forbidden,” with Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, Ralph Bellamy, Dorothy Peterson, Thomas Jefferson, Myrna Fresholt, Charlotte V. Henry and Oliver Eckhardt. Story by Frank Capra, adaptation and dialogue by Jo Swerling, edited … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 37 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — Celebrities in Bloom

Posted on July 20, 2020 by lmharnisch

Photo: Mary Pickford admires a namesake orchid. Courtesy of Mary Mallory. Note: This is an encore post from 2012. Flowers, like actors, sometimes have short-lived celebrity. Once their aura of uniqueness fades, many languish or fall by the wayside. Some … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 2178 High Tower Drive, L.A.’s First Community Elevator

Posted on July 13, 2020 by lmharnisch

The Tower appeared in the March 24, 1939, installment of Nuestro Pueblo by Joseph Seewerker and Charles Owens of the Los Angeles Times. Both marketing gimmick and necessity, the elevator shaft that gave the name High Tower Drive to a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1922, Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 13, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1964 picture “The Last Man on Earth,” with Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Umberto Rau, Christi Courtland, Tony Corevi and Hector Ribotta. Photographed by Franco Delli Colli, edited by Gene Ruggiero, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1964, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Book Review: ‘Cary Grant – A Brilliant Disguise’

Posted on July 8, 2020 by lmharnisch

Executive summary: “Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise,” the latest in Scott Eyman’s long series of Class-A Hollywood biographies, opens strong with the last day of the acclaimed actor’s life and quickly declines to a tedious slog in a book more … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 6, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1931 Warner Bros. picture “Other Men’s Women,” with Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey, James Cagney, Fred Kohler, J. Farrell MacDonald, Joan Blondell, Lillian Worth and Walter Long. By Maude Fulton, dialogue by William … Continue reading →

Posted in 1931, City Hall, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 46 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Emma Lazarus’ ‘The New Colossus’ Calls to All Immigrants

Posted on July 6, 2020 by lmharnisch

Construction of the Statue of Liberty, artwork by John Durkin, Harper’s Weekly, Jan. 19, 1884. Note: This is an encore post from 2018. Written in 1883 to help raise money for building the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty … Continue reading →

Posted in 1884, Hollywood Heights, Immigration, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Emma Lazarus’ ‘The New Colossus’ Calls to All Immigrants

L.A. Celebrates the Fourth of July 1889 – 1960

Posted on July 4, 2020 by lmharnisch

July 4, 1944: Uncle Sam in a cartoon by Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale for the Los Angeles Examiner and republished in the Milwaukee Sentinel.   Note: This is an encore post from 2014. Here’s a look at how Los Angeles … Continue reading →

Posted in 1863, 1907, 1910, 1947, 1957, 1960 | Tagged | Comments Off on L.A. Celebrates the Fourth of July 1889 – 1960

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – The Tale of the Alden Besse

Posted on June 29, 2020 by lmharnisch

Alden Besse, photographed by Asahel Curtis, Wikipedia Commons. Surviving tempests, fires, illness, auctions, lawsuits, and salvages, the old whaling ship Alden Besse saw many an exciting adventure over more than 59 years. A magnet for disaster, accidents, and adventure, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – The Tale of the Alden Besse

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 29, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1957 film “The Black Scorpion,” with Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas, Mario Navarro, Carlos Muzquiz, Pascual Pena, Fanny Schiller, Pedro Galvan and Arturo Martinez. Screenplay by David Duncan and Robert Blees from a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, Animals, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 48 Comments