Category Archives: 1953

December 13, 1953: Father charged with leaving son, 4, in car parked on skid row

Posted on December 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1953: Police find Kenny Ross, 4, sleeping in a car parked on skid row. He’s taken to Juvenile Hall and his father is charged with child endangerment. Kenny wants to be a writer and asks for a typewriter for Christmas. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1953, Front Pages, LAPD | Leave a comment

August 30, 1953: Barbara Graham Defense Wins Delay After Prosecution Bombshell

Posted on August 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 30, 1953: Judge Charles Fricke grants a delay to attorneys for Barbara Graham after the prosecution discloses a recorded conversation between Graham and an undercover police officer. Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Paul Coates | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on August 30, 1953: Barbara Graham Defense Wins Delay After Prosecution Bombshell

L.A. Welcomes Harbor Freeway Extension With Four-Block Traffic Jam

Posted on August 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 8, 1953: If you build it, they will drive. New extension of Harbor Freeway results in four-block traffic jam. And a Marine deserter is killed by a liquor store owner during an attempted robbery. Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, African Americans, Comics, Film, Freeways, Hollywood, LAPD, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on L.A. Welcomes Harbor Freeway Extension With Four-Block Traffic Jam

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

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

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 11, 2024 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 Warner Bros. film Blowing Wild, with Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Ruth Roman, Anthony Quinn, Ward Bond, Ian MacDonald, Richard Karlan and Juan Garcia.

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 7, 2024 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 Paramount film Sangaree, with Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, Patricia Medina, Francis L. Sullivan, Charles Korvin, Tom Drake, John Sutton, Willard Parker, Charles Evans, Lester Mathews, Roy Gordon, Lewis L. Russell, Russell Gaige and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 19, 2024 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery was the 1953 Twentieth Century-Fox picture Call Me Madam, with Ethel Merman, Donald O’Connor, Vera-Ellen, George Sanders, Billy De Wolfe, Helmut Dantine, Walter Slezak, Steven Geray, Ludwig Stossel, Lilia Skala, Charles Dingle, Emory Parnell and Percy Helton.

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 5, 2024 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 film Donovan’s Brain, with Lew Ayres, Gene Evans, Nancy Davis, Steve Brodie, Tom Powers, Lisa K. Howard, Kyle James, Victor Sutherland, Michael Colgan, Peter Adams, Harlan Warde and Shimen Ruskin.

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , | 21 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated) + + + +

Posted on September 18, 2023 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 United Artists film The Magnetic Monster, with Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Jean Byron, Harry Ellerbe, Leo Britt, Leonard Mudie, Byron Foulger, Michael Fox, John Zarimba, Lee Phelps, Watson Downs, Roy Engle, Frank Gerstle, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 22, 2023 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 MGM picture The Clown, with Red Skelton, Tim Considine, Jane Greer, Loring Smith, Philip Ober, Lou Lubin, Fay Roope, Walter Reed, Edward Marr, Jonathan Cott, Don Beddoe and Steve Forrest.  

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 43 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on November 7, 2022 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 MGM film Torch Song, with Joan Crawford, Michael Wilding, Gig Young, Marjorie Rambeau, Henry (Harry) Morgan, Dorothy Patrick, James Todd, Eugene Loring, Paul Guilfoyle and Benny Rubin.

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Saluting Marilyn Thomas — Miss Muscle Beach 1953

Posted on July 19, 2021 by lmharnisch

Marilyn Thomas in an undated photo on Muscle Beach. In 2005, I did a blog post for the 1947project on Miss Muscle Beach of 1947. Back then, only the Los Angeles Times was online, so when I listed the winners, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Sports | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on February 22, 2021 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 MGM picture “Confidentially Connie,” with Van Johnson, Janet Leigh, Louis Calhern, Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart, Hayden Rorke, Robert Burton, Barbara Ruick and Marilyn Erskine. Screenplay by Max Shulman, from a story by Max … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 7, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 Twentieth Century-Fox film “Vicki,” with Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliot Reid, Richard Boone, Casey Adams, Alex D’Arcy, Carl Betz and Aaron Spelling. Screenplay by Dwight Taylor from a novel by Steve Fisher. Music … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 63 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 31, 2020 by lmharnisch

This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 Twentieth Century-Fox film “Treasure of the Golden Condor,” with Cornel Wilde, Constance Smith, Finlay Currie, Walter Hampden, Anne Bancroft, George Macready, Fay Wray, Leo G. Carroll and Konstantin Shayne. Screenplay by Delmer Daves … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, books, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 45 Comments

In Memoriam — Johnny Fox | Sword Swallower (1953 — 2017)

Posted on December 23, 2017 by lmharnisch

We were saddened to read an obituary in the New York Times this week about sword swallower Johnny Fox, who died of cancer in Maryland at the age of 64. We snapped this picture of Fox, about to swallow a … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Steve ‘Broken Nose’ Murphy Slays Them in the Movies

Posted on June 27, 2016 by lmharnisch

  Steve “Broken Nose” Murphy” in “Sherlock Jr.”       Some people succeed in films because of great notoriety, talent, or beauty. Others flourish because of unusual skill or looks, such as Steve “Broken Nose” Murphy. A stand out … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Christmas on the Radio — ‘Fibber McGee and Molly’

Posted on December 22, 2013 by lmharnisch

A photo of Fibber McGee (Jim Jordan) and Molly (Marian Jordan) listed on EBay at $9.99. While we are twirling the radio dial looking for Christmas shows, here are some episodes from “Fibber McGee and Molly.” From 1941 (Dec. 16, … Continue reading →

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‘I Took the Gun and Shot Him Once in the Leg, Just for Fun’

Posted on December 20, 2013 by lmharnisch

Maybe it was murder. Maybe it never happened at all. Was she telling the truth or was it all a lie? Early on the morning of Nov. 20, 1953, acting on a tip, LAPD Detectives John Olsen and P.R. Brooks … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Homicide, LAPD, Main Street | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Barbara Graham Gets Death Sentence

Posted on September 23, 2013 by lmharnisch

Sept. 23, 1953: Barbara Graham, John A. Santo and Emmett Perkins are convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Mabel Monahan. The jury returned the verdict without a recommendation of life in prison. “Mrs. Graham didn’t bat an eye,” … Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Crime and Courts, Homicide | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment