Category Archives: broadcasting

December 9, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 9, 1959: A reporter for Ici Paris is assigned an interview with Caryl Chessman, and Matt Weinstock has the story. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1959, art and artists, broadcasting, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock, Television | Leave a comment

December 1, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1959: Jerry Lewis is a strange guy, Paul Coates writes, but this time the comedian is going to the aid of actor Jay Robinson, “Hollywood’s forgotten man.: Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, broadcasting, Columnists, Front Pages, Paul Coates, Television | Comments Off on December 1, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

November 27, 1968: O.J. Simpson wins Heisman

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1968: O.J. Simpson wins the Heisman Trophy after a remarkable two-year career at USC. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, broadcasting, Current Affairs, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Sports, Television | Comments Off on November 27, 1968: O.J. Simpson wins Heisman

November 26, 1904: UFO over Los Angeles

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 24, 1906: No, this isn’t a flying saucer on a stick. It’s an early attempt at carbon arc street lighting. Continue reading →

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November 17, 1968: The ‘Heidi Game’ remembered

Posted on November 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 17, 1968: NBC preempts the last moments of a game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets to air “Heidi,” and the infamous “Heidi Game” was born. Continue reading →

Posted in 1968, Blues, broadcasting, Sports, Television | Comments Off on November 17, 1968: The ‘Heidi Game’ remembered

October 24, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 24, 1959: A driver with a long, majestic beard stopping in Paso Robles during a beard-growing contest for Pioneer Day is the envy of every man, Matt Weinstock says. Continue reading →

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October 12, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 12, 1957: Matt Weinstock profiles Burl Ives as he makes the transition from folk singing to acting. Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Columnists, Film, Food and Drink, Matt Weinstock, Music, Nightclubs, Television | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on October 12, 1957: Matt Weinstock

October 3, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on October 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 3, 1959: Thelonious Monk leaves after playing two numbers at the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Fest. Paul Coates says Mike Wallace decides not to have Aldous Huxley on his TV show because Huxley wasn’t well known. Huxley asked: “Mike Wallace? Who’s Mike Wallace?” Continue reading →

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September 24, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on September 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 24, 1957: Matt Weinstock profiles Red Rowe, host of Panoramic Pacific on KNXT, Channel 2 Continue reading →

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Los Angeles History — Stage

Posted on June 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

T.C. Jones, whom Philip Scheuer calls “the greatest female impersonator I have seen and heard since Julian Eltinge. Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Nightclubs, Stage | Comments Off on Los Angeles History — Stage

Remembering Newsman Tony Valdez | 1945-2023

Posted on May 11, 2023 by lmharnisch

We’re remembering veteran Fox 11 newsman Tony Valdez, who died last week at 78. Tony loved Los Angeles and he loved Los Angeles history; for Tony, the city was a profession and an avocation. When he wasn’t reporting on Los … Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Obituaries, Photography, Television | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Voices: James Arness, 1923 – 2011

Posted on June 3, 2011 by lmharnisch

        James Arness, from “Them!” to “Gunsmoke” and "How the West Was Won." Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg interviewed Arness (or tried to) in 1981 as he began working on “McClain’s Law.” Arness was thrifty with his … Continue reading →

Posted in 1923, 1954, broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Television | 2 Comments

Vice President Predicts ‘Long, Costly’ Struggle in Southeast Asia

Posted on May 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

May 24, 1961: Radio and TV comedy star Joan Davis dies of a heart attack and gets a Page 1 obituary with a jump. Raymond Chandler got an six-paragraph obituary on Page 4.  Davis was 48 when she died.

Posted in 1961, broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Politics, Raymond Chandler, Television | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

      Los Angeles Times file photo   [Update: STRANGE CASE — Dan Barton plays the central figure in a homicide with an unusual twist in "A Matter of Degree," Goodson-Todman's production in the new "The Web" telefilm series … Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography, Television | 10 Comments

Jim Murray, May 14, 1961

Posted on May 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

            May 14, 1961: Rinold George Duren, is the victim — or the beneficiary, if you want to look at it that way — of the most monumental case of nearsightedness in the annals of … Continue reading →

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, Baseball, broadcasting, Columnists, Dodgers, Sports | 1 Comment

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 | Comments Off on From the Stacks — ‘The Long Season’

Jim Murray, April 17, 1961

Posted on April 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

            April 17, 1961: Jim Murray pulls together a column of various items, including this line about Vin Scully, who is “the only redheaded broadcaster I know who makes a ball game sound like a … Continue reading →

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Jim Murray, April 14, 1961

Posted on April 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

            April 14, 1961: The arrival of major league baseball in Los Angeles has curtailed network TV's games of the week, so that sports announcer Dizzy Dean is off the local airwaves, which may be … Continue reading →

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Paul Coates, April 4, 1961

Posted on April 4, 2011 by lmharnisch

    April 4, 1961: Paul Coates has an update on the Watts Towers. On the jump, Al Capp writes about Jim Hagerty, President Eisenhower's former press secretary, who is heading ABC's news operations. One goal is to cut 90 … Continue reading →

Posted in 1961, art and artists, broadcasting, Columnists, Paul Coates, Television | Comments Off on Paul Coates, April 4, 1961

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on March 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

      Los Angeles Times file photo   [Update: Yes, this is Portland Hoffa, the wife of radio comedian Fred Allen. I discovered Allen’s radio shows after his death in 1956 and always wondered about the women named Portland … Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography, Stage | 32 Comments