Category Archives: 1932

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – ‘Letty Lynton’

Posted on November 10, 2025 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory looks at the history of the 1932 MGM film “Letty Lynton” and why it keeps vanishing from sight. Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

For Monday, we have a mysterious woman. She does not approve of such goings-on! Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Clarence Brown Provides Quick Shave to King Gillette Ranch

Posted on August 28, 2023 by lmharnisch

King Camp Gillette dies at the age of 77 in 1932. He gave architect Wallace Neff free rein to built an expansive ranch in Calabasas, but only lived there for a few years before his death. Tennessean Clarence Brown reigned … Continue reading →

Posted in 1928, 1932, Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 31, 2023 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 RKO picture The Animal Kingdom, with Ann Harding, Leslie Howard, Myrna Loy, William Gargan, Neil Hamilton, Ilka Chase, Henry Stephenson, Leni Stengel and Donald Dilloway.

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + + +)

Posted on February 27, 2023 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 MGM picture Strange Interlude, with Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Alexander Kirkland, Ralph Morgan, Robert Young, May Robson, Maureen O’Sullivan, Henry B. Walthall, Mary Alden and Tad Alexander.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on December 19, 2022 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 picture No More Orchids, with Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Louise Closser Hale, Lyle Talbot, C. Aubrey Smith, Allen Vincent, Ruthelma Stevens, Arthur Houseman, William V. Mong and Jameson Thomas.

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Brazil Touches Off Riot at 1932 L.A. Olympics

Posted on August 2, 2021 by lmharnisch

The Xth Olympiad hosted by Los Angeles from July 31 through August 14, 1932, overflowed with drama and intrigue in everything from finances to competition. None was as striking as the Brazilian team’s adventure in making it to California, using … Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on June 14, 2021 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Universal picture “The Old Dark House,” with Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Lillian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore, Raymond Massey, Gloria Stuart, John Dudgeon and Brember Wills. From the novel by J.B. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 17, 2021 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1933 film “The Death Kiss,” with David Manners, Adrienne Ames, Bela Lugosi, John Wray, Vince Barnett, Alexander Carr,  Edward Van Sloan, Harold Minjir, Barbara Bedford, Al Hill, Harold Waldrige, Wade Boteler and Lee Moran.

Posted in 1932, 1933, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 2, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Columbia film “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” with Lee Tracy, Constance Cummings, Walter Connolly, Alan Dinehart, Arthur Vinton, Arthur Hoyt, Burton Churchill, Frank Sheridan, Clay Clement and Clarence Muse. Screenplay by Jo Swerling, story by Maxwell … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 5, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 film “False Faces,” with Lowell Sherman, Peggy Shannon, Lila Lee, Berton Churchill, David Landau, Harold Waldrige, Geneva Mitchell, Oscar Apfel, Miriam Seegar, Joyce Compton, Nancy O’Neil, Edward Martindel and Purnell Pratt. Screenplay by … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 42 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

Perry Mason and The Case of the Flawed Fedora

Posted on June 20, 2020 by lmharnisch

Oh dear. HBO Max’s Perry Mason origin story is set in 1932 Los Angeles, which you would never know by looking at this photo of Shea Whigham and Matthew Rhys. IMDB lists a huge number of costumers, so I can’t … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Fashion, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 3, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Warner Bros. film “Life Begins,” the studio’s  previous version of the first mystery movie of the year, “A Child Is Born.” “Life Begins” features Loretta Young, Eric Linden, Aline MacMahon, Glenda Farrell. Clara … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 43 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 16, 2019 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 RKO picture “State’s Attorney,” with John Barrymore, Helen Twelvetrees, Jill Esmond, Ralph Ince, William Boyd, Albert Conti, Mary Duncan, Frederick Burton, C. Henry Gordon, Paul Hurst and Oscar Apfel. Associate producer James Kevin … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Clarence Brown Provides Quick Shave to King Gillette Ranch

Posted on March 11, 2019 by lmharnisch

King Camp Gillette dies at the age of 77 in 1932. He gave architect Wallace Neff free rein to built an expansive ranch in Calabasas, but only lived there for a few years before his death. Tennessean Clarence Brown reigned … Continue reading →

Posted in 1928, 1932, Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 24, 2019 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Warner Bros. film “Lawyer Man” with William Powell, Joan Blondell, David Landau, Helen Vinson, Claire Dodd, Alan Dinehart and Allen Jenkins. Screenplay by Rian James and James Seymour, based on the novel “Lawyer … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 35 Comments

Feb. 29, 1932: Body Found in Closet of Vacant Home

Posted on September 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Nailed up in the closet of an unoccupied house at 2318 Pontius Ave.., West Los Angeles, the body of Tomas Moreno, 43-year-old Japanese, was discovered yesterday … Continue reading →

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From 1937: A Rape Victim’s ‘Night of Horror’

Posted on May 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

And here’s where we go down the research rabbit hole from the L.A. Sentinel, 1947: The California Venereal Disease Control Act of 1937. Which brings us to “California and Western Medicine,” July to December 1937.

Posted in 1932, 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – ‘Letty Lynton’

Posted on April 30, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Image: May 18, 1932, “Letty Lynton” is opening in Los Angeles. Credit: Los Angeles Times Note: This is an encore post from 2011. In the novel “Letty Lynton” and the play “Dishonored Lady,” the heroine gets away with murder, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments