Category Archives: 1959

Books, Reading and Lending Libraries

Posted on August 15, 2014 by lmharnisch

Note to millennials: This is an example of a book from a lending library. These were generally small businesses that rented books for pennies a day and specialized in current literature and somewhat racy material that wasn’t available at the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Books and Authors, Found on EBay, Libraries | Tagged #EBay, 1959, books, Libraries | 2 Comments

Harvey Glatman: The Early Years — Part 2

Posted on January 3, 2014 by lmharnisch

Aug. 26, 1946: Harvey Glatman is arraigned on robbery charges in Albany, N.Y. When he was still a teenager, Harvey Glatman was already displaying the behavior that led to the deaths of three Southern California women in the 1950s and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1945, 1946, 1957, 1958, 1959, Homicide | Tagged 1945, 1946, Harvey Glatman, homicide | Comments Off

Harvey Glatman: The Early Years — Part I

Posted on January 2, 2014 by lmharnisch

Aug. 27, 1946: Harvey Glatman in the Yonkers, N.Y., Herald Statesman. Whenever I am contacted by TV producers about appearing on a crime show, I always caution them that I’m a specialist not a generalist. I don’t do Sal Mineo, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1946, 1957, 1958, 1959, Crime and Courts, Homicide, Television | Tagged 1946, 1957, 1958, 1959, Harvey Glatman, serial killers | Comments Off

Dec. 7, 1959: Paul Coates Interviews Tokyo Rose

Posted on December 7, 2013 by lmharnisch

On Dec. 7, 1959, Paul Coates published an interview with Tokyo Rose. She says: “What’s the use? What good is it to talk to the press? Everybody’s mind is made up about me.” A throwback from 2009, when my blog … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, 1959, World War II | Tagged 1941, 1959, Paul Coates, Tokyo Rose | 1 Comment

Live Blogging ‘-30-’ on TCM

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

Dewey Webb gets into the “-30-” spirit with a 1959 ad from Variety. Thanks, Dewey! (I swear, the guy in the travelogue called it Aloe Vera Street.) And that’s “-30-” Ready to go home, Lady? Gosh, genuine ugly 1950s layout. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Film, Hollywood | Tagged #David Nelson, #Examiner, #Jack Webb, #William Conrad | 25 Comments

Coming Tonight: Live Blogging ‘-30-’

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

Photo: Jack Webb, William Conrad and James Bell in “-30-” TCM is airing Jack Webb’s “-30-” at 7 tonight Pacific time. I’m going to try live blogging just to see how it goes. Tune in for the fun and/or mayhem.

Posted in 1959, Film, Hollywood | Tagged #David Nelson, #Live Blogging, Bodoni, Boy | 8 Comments

How to Wear a Hat – Rod Steiger Edition

Posted on January 24, 2012 by lmharnisch

We have explored how newsboy caps were worn by several men in “Monkey Business” and by Lee Marvin in “King of the North,” by Henry Fonda in “The Grapes of Wrath” and by Marc Chevalier in real life. Here’s Rod … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Chicago, Crime and Courts, Fashion, Fashions, Film, Hollywood, Nightclubs, Photography | Tagged #How to Wear a Hat, #Newsboy caps, #Rod Steiger, Al Capone | 6 Comments

Mack Ray Edwards’ Legacy of Grief

Posted on June 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

Note: The Times is reporting that Mack Ray Edwards is a suspect in the 1961 disappearance of 7-year-old Ramona Price outside Santa Barbara. Here’s a 1959 column that Paul Coates wrote about one of Edwards’ victims. Today marks an anniversary that … Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, 1959, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

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

Posted on June 8, 2011 by lmharnisch

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

From the Vaults — ‘Fires on the Plain’ (1959)

Posted on April 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

So far in my ramble through old foreign films, I have done the Holocaust (“Yiddle With His Fiddle”) and incest (“La Mujer del Puerto,”) so imagine my surprise when this week’s entry, “Fires on the Plain,” turned to … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Film, From the Vaults, Hollywood | Comments Off

Rock Stars Die in Plane Crash, Feb. 3, 1959

Posted on February 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

[Note: Here's a repost of an item from two years ago… lrh] Ritchie Valens' Roots Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1987 Los Angeles Times file photo Ritchie Valens, 1941 – 1959 By GREGG BARRIOS WATSONVILLE, Calif. — "I still remember … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959 | 1 Comment

Matt Weinstock, Dec. 31, 1959

Posted on December 31, 2009 by lmharnisch

Modern Shepherd It is an era of compulsions. Apparently everyone has had them all along but now it’s considered not only proper but fashionable to express them, no matter in what murky paths they lead. Publicist Doris Hellman, for instance, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off

December 17, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 17, 2009 by lmharnisch

We Have Living Dead Living in Red China Historically, war is a cold fact of life. And one of its most terrifying aspects is that some men conscripted by their nations to fight are swallowed up and lost in its … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Front Pages, Homicide, Paul Coates, Richard Nixon | Comments Off

December 11, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 11, 2009 by lmharnisch

L.A. Justice As Ida Gutierrez, 44, a restaurant cashier, stepped from a 4 bus at Melrose and La Brea last Aug. 26 a woman who got off at the same time grabbed at a half-open package and excitedly accused her … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Food and Drink, LAPD, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off

December 11, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 11, 2009 by lmharnisch

Youth Bought Death for Nickel a Game I have never met a man who dropped $4,000 pitching pennies, but I guess it’s possible. Because last week I talked to one who estimates that he has lost, in the past … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Paul Coates, Suicide | Comments Off

December 9, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 9, 2009 by lmharnisch

Dialing Chessman Francois de Montfort, correspondent for Ici Paris, is in Hollywood having a look at the movie making. As he arrived on the set of “Strangers When We Meet” to interview Kim Novak the other day, he told publicist … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1959, art and artists, broadcasting, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Television | Comments Off

December 4, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 4, 2009 by lmharnisch

Half a century hasn’t dulled the tragedy of these Christmas stories. Start With People and Where Are You? Top public relations executives took a long, searching look at themselves and what they referred to as “continuing attacks” on their work … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off

December 4, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 4, 2009 by lmharnisch

Touhy, Jake Factor, J. Edgar Hoover. Et Al. Roger (The Terrible) Touhy, prohibition era gangland boss who was released from Illinois State Penitentiary last week, is remembered most for his kidnapping of John (Jake the Barber) Factor. That crime earned … Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Countdown to Watts, Mickey Cohen, Paul Coates | Comments Off

December 1, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 1, 2009 by lmharnisch

A Lucky Man Lee Shippey sat smiling at a table in the Broadway Department Store yesterday, chatting with friends and autographing copies of his new book, his 11th, “The Luckiest Man Alive.” Lee, a glowing, healthy 76, means himself. The … Continue reading →