Category Archives: Art & Artists

L.A. Daily Mirror’s Discerning Readers

Posted on July 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

I must say, the L.A. Daily Mirror readers are truly outstanding. My traffic indicates that they prefer old type fonts to nude photos by a slight margin. At left, the Selectric OCR font in all its glory. I think the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Found on EBay, Photography, Witzel | Tagged , | 4 Comments

For Font Freaks

Posted on July 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: IBM Selectric commemorative stamp. Credit: U.S. Postal Service Today’s post on the IBM Selectric got me to thinking about the variety of interchangeable typeballs that were used for fonts. The most memorable was ORATOR, which looked like this:

Posted in 1961, Art & Artists | Tagged | 10 Comments

Marion Eisenmann: Artist’s Notebook

Posted on July 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

Olvera Street by Marion Eisenmann, Aug. 8, 2009 Note: I’m reposting artwork that Marion Eisenmann did for the Daily Mirror when it was with the L.A. Times. To visit the old Plaza is to stand at the crossroads of the … Continue reading →

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Coming Tomorrow: Marion Eisenmann

Posted on July 20, 2011 by lmharnisch

City Hall, July 3, 2009, by Marion Eisenmann I’m going to be reposting the artwork Marion Eisenmann did for the Daily Mirror when it was with the L.A. Times. Tomorrow’s sketch will feature Olvera Street. You can contact Marion here.

Posted in 2009, Art & Artists, Artist's Notebook, City Hall, Marion Eisenmann | Tagged , | Comments Off on Coming Tomorrow: Marion Eisenmann

#history, #museum 7|16|2011

Posted on July 16, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: The Dodge House. Credit: latimes.com SPOTLIGHT The New York Times’ Michael Kimmelman visits the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. Kimmelman writes: Devised like most true collections from somebody’s crazy obsession, the Mütter dressed up good old ghoulish midway spectacle in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, History, Museums | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Attorney Storms Office, Seizes D.A.’s Bugging Equipment

Posted on July 15, 2011 by lmharnisch

July 15, 1941: Defense attorney Samuel Rummel (shot to death Dec. 11, 1950) breaks a door and seizes a dictograph wired to a microphone in his office in the William Fox Building, 608 S. Hill. Rummel was defending Deputy Charles … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Cold Cases, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Jimmie Fidler, Lee Shippey, Mickey Cohen, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Attorney Storms Office, Seizes D.A.’s Bugging Equipment

Marion Eisenmann: Artist’s Notebook ‘Bastille Day’

Posted on July 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

“Bastille Day” by Marion Eisenmann It’s Bastille Day, so I thought I would repost a sketch Marion Eisenmann did a year ago during a gathering in Elysian Park. July 16, 2010: Marion Eisenmann called Sunday and suggested we visit a … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Art & Artists, Artist's Notebook, Marion Eisenmann, Parks | Tagged , | Comments Off on Marion Eisenmann: Artist’s Notebook ‘Bastille Day’

Michael Jackson – Art Collector

Posted on July 9, 2011 by lmharnisch

Is Michael Jackson’s art collection with $900 million? Well, maybe not. Dylan Howard of Star magazine writes: Michael Jackson secretly left behind an almost billion-dollar secret art fortune that is now at the center of an international tug of war, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Crime and Courts, Music | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Day in Hollywood: July 8, 1941

Posted on July 8, 2011 by lmharnisch

July 8, 1941: I thought it would be fun to check in with our old pals, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor and Jimmie Fidler. Lee writes about visiting researchers spending their summers at the Huntington. That’s my idea of a vacation! … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Soviet Film Posters – Update

Posted on July 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

Regular Daily Mirror reader Gary Martin visited the exhibit of Soviet film posters at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery and files this post: American museums have all become so look alike and all show such similar works by the same small … Continue reading →

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Uncle Jed – Outsider Artist

Posted on July 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

In addition to his many other accomplishments (ever see him dance in “Broadway Melody of 1936?”) the late Buddy “Uncle Jed” Ebsen was an outsider artist. An untitled self-portrait in his “Uncle Jed Country Series” has been listed on EBay. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Film, Found on EBay, Television | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Found on EBay – Batchelder Tile

Posted on July 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

This rather remarkable example of Batchelder tile has been listed on EBay. The vendor’s family was apparently a Batchelder distributor and has had this since the 1930s.   As with anything on EBay, an item and vendor should be evaluated thoroughly … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art & Artists, Found on EBay | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

More Letters From J.D. Salinger

Posted on July 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

The New York Times’ City Room has a story about a group of letters between author/recluse J.D. Salinger and E. Michael Mitchell, the artist who illustrated the original cover of “Catcher in the Rye.” Mitchell put the letters up for … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Libraries, Museums | Tagged , , | Comments Off on More Letters From J.D. Salinger

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on July 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

Queen of the Dead—dateline July 4, 2011   • Adorable, baby-voiced actress Alice Playten, 63, died on June 25. She was one of those “oh, her!” actresses whose face and voice are more familiar than her name. She did zillions … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead, Stage, Television | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

#museum

Posted on July 3, 2011 by lmharnisch

My colleague Louis Sahagun of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at an effort to revive the Santa Catalina Island Museum with an exhibit of photos by Pattie Boyd, the former wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton. Since … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art & Artists, History, Museums | Tagged , , | Comments Off on #museum

#Hollywood #history #museums

Posted on July 2, 2011 by lmharnisch

DEARBORN, Mich. The Arab American National Museum is opening an exhibit focusing on the generation of children who are growing since the 9/11 attacks. The project, “In the Heart of Arab America,” was sponsored by the Asian American Journalists Assn. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Film, Hollywood, Museums, Religion, Television | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on #Hollywood #history #museums

‘Zoot Suit’ and History – Part 3

Posted on June 30, 2011 by lmharnisch

In March 1943, Disney studios released “The Spirit of ’43,” a cartoon in which Donald Duck is forced to choose between saving his money for “taxes to bury the Axis” (aided by a thrifty proto-Scrooge McDuck)  and spending his paycheck … Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Latinos, Lee Shippey, Nightclubs, Zoot Suit | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

From the Stacks: ‘The Big Picture’

Posted on June 29, 2011 by lmharnisch

I picked up “The Big Picture,” Melba Levick and Stanley Young’s 1988 book about Los Angeles murals, not realizing what a terribly sad book it would be. As Young notes: “Most artists are aware that, exposed as it is to … Continue reading →

Posted in 1988, Architecture, Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, Downtown, From the Stacks, Hollywood, Latinos, Photography, Preservation, San Fernando Valley, Sports, Zoot Suit | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

From the Galleries: Soviet Film Posters

Posted on June 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

Friday’s New York Times has a brief article on an exhibit of Soviet film posters at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery on West 26th Street in Chelsea. According to the New York Times, the posters were collected by Susan Pack, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

‘Zoot Suit’ and History – Part 2

Posted on June 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

May 9, 1943: Al Capp satirizes zoot suits in a series about “Zoot-Suit Yokum.” In Part 1, we saw that in 1942, The Times originally portrayed zoot suits as a youthful fad, but that attitudes hardened toward them once the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Fashion, Film, LAPD, Latinos, World War II, Zoot Suit | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments