Category Archives: 1941

December 18, 1941: Academy Awards Banquet Canceled; Oscars Postponed Due to War

Posted on December 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 18, 1941: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cancels its annual banquet, due to the war. The awards will be given out later in some informal gathering, Edwin Schallert writes. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, World War II | Tagged #Dumbo, #Gene Autry, Abbott and Costello | Leave a comment

December 15, 1941: Soldier Kills Civilian in Tragedy at Airport Checkpoint

Posted on December 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 15, 1941: Soldiers stop motorists on Sepulveda Boulevard to strip off blue cellophane illegally put over the headlights in the new wartime blackout. Dr. Harry Brandel, assuming the soldiers were hitchhiking, ignored the order to stop and Private Eugene I. Tuttle, 19, fired what he said was a warning shot. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Jimmie Fidler, World War II | Tagged #Milton Caniff, #Yes, Virginia | 3 Comments

December 14, 1941: War Cancels Rose Parade

Posted on December 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 14, 1941: The Rose Parade is canceled and the Rose Bowl – between Duke and Oregon State – is moved to Durham, N.C. The streets of Pasadena were oddly quiet on New Year’s Day as millions reviewed memories of previous parades in all their glory, The Times said. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Tom Treanor, World War II | Leave a comment

December 13, 1941: Roundup of Aliens Overwhelms L.A. Jails

Posted on December 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1941: So many alien Japanese, Germans and Italians are being taken into custody that Chief Jailer William Bright of the County Jail is being forced to send some of his other inmates to county prison farms. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Nightclubs, Nuestro Pueblo, World War II | Tagged #Frank Capra, #Hugh Herbert | Leave a comment

A Firsthand History Lesson on Pearl Harbor

Posted on December 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

My seventh-grade history teacher, Rene Humbert, was at Pearl Harbor and the anniversary told the class about his experiences. This is his memoir. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Education, History, World War II | Tagged #Pearl Harbor, #teachers, 1941 | Leave a comment

November 27, 1941: Streetcar Companies Ask Council to End Bus Ban in Downtown L.A.

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1941: The Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railways ask the City Council to repeal a ban against buses operating in downtown Los Angeles. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Streetcars, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged #Red Cars, #transportation, #Yellow Cars, buses, Streetcars | 1 Comment

November 26, 1941: L.A. Man Takes Fight Over Dog License to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1941: George F. Harrington says owning his dog, named Kitty, is a constitutional right and he refuses to pay for a license, taking the fight to the Supreme Court. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Animals, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged #dog licenses, #supreme court, Animals | Comments Off

November 20, 1941: California Prepares to Execute Juanita ‘The Duchess’ Spinelli

Posted on November 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 20, 1941: Juanita ‘The Duchess’ Spinelli is about to become the first woman legally executed in California. She was an ex-wrestler and knife-thrower who could pin a poker chip at 15 paces. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide | Tagged #Death Row, #Gas Chamber, #San Quentin | Comments Off

November 19, 1941: Hollywood Model Dies of Botched Abortion

Posted on November 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 19, 1941: Angelka Rose Gogich was 18 when she died at Glendale Emergency Hospital after undergoing an abortion. She had be working as a model, hat check girl and dancer under the name Rose Ann Rae. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Abortion, Art & Artists, Black Dahlia, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Medicine, Obituaries | Tagged Abortion | 1 Comment

November 18, 1941: Private Detective Held in ‘Love’ Killing

Posted on November 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 18, 1941: Private detective Edwin Crumplar is charged in ‘love slaying’ of Irene Wilder, who died of an infection after Crumplar shot her in the stomach. Jimmie Fidler says Alan Ladd’s romance with Sally Wadsworth won’t please Paramount. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood | Tagged Alan Ladd | Comments Off

November 17, 1941: Women Reporters

Posted on November 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 17, 1941: Reporter Mary Shaw Leader is posthumously honored for covering Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Leader walked 15 miles to cover Lincoln’s speech. Continue reading →

Posted in 1863, 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Immigration, Obituaries, World War II | Tagged #Gettysburg Address, #Lincoln | Comments Off

November 13, 1941: U.S. Prepares to Round Up Japanese in Event of War

Posted on November 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 13, 1941: Atty. Gen. Francis Biddle “confirms reports that the government has plans for the segregation of Nipponese alien groups for a ‘temporary period’ if relations between the U.S. and Japan are broken off.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged #film, #hollywood, #Japanese, #Veronica Lake, 1941, Alan Ladd | Comments Off

November 12, 1941: Crowds Line Broadway for Armistice Day Parade

Posted on November 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 12, 1941: Crowds line Broadway in downtown Los Angeles for the annual Armistice Day parade, which marked the end of what used to be called the Great War or the World War – until we had another one. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, A Kinder, Simpler Time, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Streetcars, Theaters, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged #Carole Landis, #John Huston, #Walter Huston | Comments Off

November 9, 1941: Roosevelt Declares Early Thanksgiving

Posted on November 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 9, 1941: President Roosevelt moves up the date of Thanksgiving to add an extra week of Christmas shopping. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Religion, World War II | Tagged #Holocaust, #Unwed mothers, Abandoned babies, Bernhard Lichtenberg | Comments Off

November 3, 1941: Wingy Manone Puts the Swing in Swing Shift

Posted on November 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 3, 1941: Tom Treanor goes to a dance at the Glendale Civic Auditorium for swing shift workers, about 5,000 of them, from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Most of the couples are married, he says, and the wives are 18 or 19. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Dance, Film, Hollywood, Music, Obituaries, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged #Lockheed, #Swing Shift, #Wingy Manone, Tom Treanor | Comments Off

September 3, 1941: Widow Accused of Killing Ft. MacArthur Officer

Posted on September 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 3, 1941: Maj. George Tucker of Ft. MacArthur, stabbed several times in the abdomen, says the knife slipped. His widow (yes, the wounds were fatal) says they had been drinking heavily and she didn’t remember exactly what happened. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged #homicide, #LAPD, 1941, World War II | Comments Off

September 1, 1941: Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood

Posted on September 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 1, 1941: Tears over MGM’s cancellation of the Maisie series, Jimmie Fidler says. Donoho Hall, technical advisor on “Sergeant York,” says “the problem of the 5 million uneducated hillbillies in the South should be more America’s problem than any foreign missions.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged #Labor Day, #Unions, 1941, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Comments Off

August 11, 1941: Van Nuys Plane Crash Kills 2

Posted on August 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 11, 1941: Two men are killed when their plane goes into a spin during a flying lesson and crashes into a bean field. Plus Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Lee Shippey, Politics, San Fernando Valley, Transportation, World War II | Tagged #comics, #film, #hollywood, #valley, #wwii | Comments Off

Black Dahlia: Eli Frankel’s ‘Sisters in Death,’ a Fraudulent ‘Solution’ to the Black Dahlia Case and the Murder of Leila Welsh

Posted on May 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

Just how bad can a ‘true” crime book be? Here’s another entry: Eli Frankel’s ‘Sisters in Death’ linking the murders of Elizabeth Short and Leila Welsh. The work of a zealous amateur with staggering mistakes on almost every page. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases | Tagged 1941, 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Forthcoming Books, true crime, unsolved murders | Comments Off

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on December 30, 2024 by lmharnisch

For Monday, we have a mystery fellow. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged #Charles Laughton, #Deanna Durbin, 1941, film, hollywood, mystery photo, Robert Cummings | 38 Comments