Category Archives: books

Found on EBay: ‘What Actors Eat (When They Eat!)’

Posted on December 30, 2021 by lmharnisch

A copy of What Actors Eat (When They Eat!), a collection of celebrities’ recipes by Kenneth Harlan and Rex Lease, has been listed on EBay for $14.99. Copies are fairly rare an in good condition can sell for hundreds of … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Food and Drink, Found on EBay, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Black Dahlia: Steve Hodel’s Many Lies About His Father, Dr. George Hodel

Posted on December 24, 2021 by lmharnisch

Someone asked me to write a one-paragraph rebuttal to Steve Hodel’s claims about his father, Dr. George Hodel. My reply: Steve Hodel has been lying about his father and the Black Dahlia for nearly 20 years, so it’s impossible to … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, books, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Coming Events: Hollywood Heritage Afternoon With the Authors

Posted on December 1, 2021 by lmharnisch

On Saturday (Dec. 4), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Hollywood Heritage will host its annual Afternoon With the Authors. Writers scheduled to attend include Leonard Maltin, James Curtis, Allen Ellenberger, Cari Beauchamp, Marc Wanamaker and Mary Mallory. Hollywood Heritage … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Coming Attractions, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

George Hodel: ‘Wings of Evil’

Posted on November 4, 2021 by lmharnisch

I’m told that Steve Hodel has published the last two volumes in his life’s work of accusing his father, George Hodel, of every unsolved killing between 1907 and 1999. The Black Dahlia Avenger has gone through countless revisions and updates … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Dahlia, books | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Found on EBay: ‘What Actors Eat (When They Eat!)’

Posted on September 10, 2021 by lmharnisch

A copy of the Lymanhouse cookbook “What Actors Eat (When They Eat!)” by Kenneth Harlan and Rex Lease has been listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $79.88. This book, by the L.A.-based publishing house, features recipes by movie … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Books and Authors, Food and Drink, Found on EBay, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Coming Attractions: Nathan Marsak Discusses Bunker Hill With Mary Mallory and Brian Judd

Posted on November 9, 2020 by lmharnisch

My old Crime Buddy Nathan Marsak has written a book on Bunker Hill in his informed yet freewheeling style and will be appearing Wednesday at 7 p.m. PST in a virtual event hosted by Hollywood Heritage in its “Evening @ … Continue reading →

Posted in 2020, books, Coming Attractions, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 3 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

Book Review: ‘Cary Grant – A Brilliant Disguise’

Posted on July 8, 2020 by lmharnisch

Executive summary: “Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise,” the latest in Scott Eyman’s long series of Class-A Hollywood biographies, opens strong with the last day of the acclaimed actor’s life and quickly declines to a tedious slog in a book more … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Black Dahlia: Fox News Unearths Leslie Dillon Fiasco in the Black Dahlia Case

Posted on December 20, 2019 by lmharnisch

And Fox News gets it wrong on the Black Dahlia case in this story by Stephanie Nolasco. Let’s go over this once more. The so-called Gangster Squad conducted a rogue, off-the-books and unsanctioned investigation of the Black Dahlia case that … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, books, Cold Cases, Homicide | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Coming Attractions – ‘Hollywoodland’

Posted on June 9, 2011 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory, a key member of the Daily Mirror’s “brain trust,”  will be signing copies of her new book “Hollywoodland” from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, at Chevalier’s Books, 126 N. Larchmont Blvd. More information is … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Coming Attractions, Film, Hollywood, Real Estate | 3 Comments

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

Times Woman of the Year – Anais Nin

Posted on June 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

          I stumbled across this article while searching for something else (research is like that) and was stunned. When I started at The Times in the late 1980s, the Women of the Year Awards were viewed … Continue reading →

Posted in 1976, books | Leave a comment

From the Stacks – ‘Facts You Should Know About California’

Posted on June 3, 2011 by lmharnisch

    Since March, when I examined Louis Adamic’s “The Truth About Los Angeles,” I have been hunting the other pamphlets he wrote for E. Haldeman-Julius. A box of a dozen musty tracts arrived Friday, courtesy of EBay, and I … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1927, 1928, books, Crime and Courts, From the Stacks, Hollywood, Zombie Reading List | 3 Comments

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, May 27, 1941

Posted on May 27, 2011 by lmharnisch

             LONDON, May 27 (Tuesday.) (AP) — British warships apparently were engaged in a mighty duel with a German battle squadron, including the 35,000-ton Bismarck, in the North Atlantic early today after a British naval … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, art and artists, books, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor, World War II | Leave a comment

From the Stacks: ‘Bookmen and Their Brothels’

Posted on May 27, 2011 by lmharnisch

    “Bookmen and Their Brothels: Recollections of Los Angeles in the 1930s” by Ward Ritchie recently showed up on EBay for too much money, so I borrowed a copy through interlibrary loan and spent a happy hour or so … Continue reading →

Posted in 1970, art and artists, books, From the Stacks, Pages of History, Zombie Reading List | 2 Comments

Coming Attractions – Genealogy Research at the L.A. Public Library

Posted on May 20, 2011 by lmharnisch

Photo: Los Angeles Public Library Credit: Carolyn Kellogg/Los Angeles Times  While we are discussing family research in Bullet of Mystery, the Los Angeles Public Library will present a program on getting started in genealogical research. The free presentation will be … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Coming Attractions, Pages of History | 1 Comment

From the Stacks: ‘The Los Angeles Book’

Posted on May 13, 2011 by lmharnisch

    It has been years since I looked through “The Los Angeles Book” and even longer since I read it. Then several weeks ago, I bought a copy so I could point out a particular photo of Chavez Ravine … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950, books, Columnists, From the Stacks, Zombie Reading List | 1 Comment

Another Good Story Ruined — The Black Dahlia

Posted on May 9, 2011 by lmharnisch

    The Black Dahlia has become so thoroughly transformed into a myth about what happens to nice, small-town girls in big, bad Hollywood  (“achieving in death the fame that eluded her in life”) that it’s almost impossible to write … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, books, Crime and Courts | 4 Comments

Coming Attractions — ‘Hollywoodland’

Posted on May 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

    Readers will recognize Mary Mallory as a leading member of the Daily Mirror’s “brain trust.” She’s a photo librarian at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and in her spare time, she has been writing a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, books, Film, Hollywood, Real Estate | 4 Comments

From the Stacks — ‘The Long Season’

Posted on May 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

    I haven’t read a baseball book since my mother gave away my trading cards of the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Braves. No, I’m not quite that old. I got them from a neighbor lady who was surreptitiously … Continue reading →

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1960, Baseball, books, broadcasting, Dodgers, Sports, Zombie Reading List | Leave a comment