Category Archives: broadcasting

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 | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, broadcasting, Dodgers, Fashion, Sports | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, art and artists, broadcasting, Columnists, Comics, Sports, Television | Leave a comment

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 | Leave a comment

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

Paul Coates, March 23, 1961

Posted on March 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

    March 23, 1961: Desi Arnaz, ABC and the National Italian American League to Combat Defamationreach an agreement that fictional characters in “The Untouchables” will not have Italian names. Arnaz also agrees to show the contributions of Italian Americans … Continue reading →

Posted in 1961, broadcasting, Columnists, Paul Coates, Television | Leave a comment

Jimmie Fidler in Hollywood, March 17, 1941

Posted on March 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

        March 17, 1941: Turn back the Hollywood clock about two years to the time when an ex-vaudevillian was struggling for radio recognition. After two or three broadcasts he found himself on the proverbial horns of a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, art and artists, broadcasting, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Lee Shippey, Tom Treanor | Leave a comment

Jim Murray, Feb. 27, March 14, 1961

Posted on March 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

            Feb. 27, 1961: Jim Murray takes his wife and two other women to see boxing at the Olympic. One question: The best way to wash blood out of boxers’ trunks. Murray writes a nice … Continue reading →

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, broadcasting, Columnists, Film, Sports, Television | 1 Comment

In Walter (Cronkite) We Trust, March 14, 1981

Posted on March 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

             March 14, 1981: Howard Rosenberg, The Times Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic, watches Dan Rather’s debut in taking over from Walter Cronkite on the “CBS Evening News” and he is not a happy man. Art … Continue reading →

Posted in 1981, @news, art and artists, Art Seidenbaum, Blues, broadcasting, Columnists, Comics, Howard Rosenberg, Television, Walter Cronkite | 2 Comments

Paul Coates, March 6, 1961

Posted on March 6, 2011 by lmharnisch

       March 6, 1961: Paul Coates has the story of 8-year-old Lillian Gonzales Gossett, who lives in Tijuana because immigration officials won’t allow her to join her mother and stepfather in the U.S.

Posted in 1961, broadcasting, Columnists, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Paul Coates | Leave a comment

Jim Murray, Feb. 19, March 5, 1961

Posted on March 5, 2011 by lmharnisch

            Feb. 19, 1961: Baseball fans are over-conservative, Jim Murray says, so they don't like Phil Wrigley's idea of using eight coaches and a computer to manage the Cubs.  March 5, 1961: Jim Murray writes … Continue reading →

Posted in #Jim Murray, 1961, broadcasting, Columnists, Sports, Television | Leave a comment

Paul Coates, Feb. 28, 1961

Posted on February 28, 2011 by lmharnisch

        Feb. 28, 1961: Arthur Godfrey announces that he’s leaving TV’s “Candid Camera” and Paul Coates takes the opportunity to say he can’t understand Godfrey’s appeal. Notice: This KNX ad actually ran Feb. 27 but I wanted … Continue reading →

Posted in 1961, broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Television | 6 Comments

Ronald Reagan and ‘A Time for Choosing’

Posted on February 10, 2011 by lmharnisch

In speaking at the tribute honoring the Ronald Reagan centennial on Friday night, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin invoked his now-famous speech “A Time for Choosing.” Times reporter Maeve Reston noted that Reagan gave the televised speech in … Continue reading →

Posted in 1964, broadcasting, Politics, Ronald Reagan | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo — From Our Readers [Updated]

Posted on February 2, 2011 by lmharnisch

      Photos courtesy of Matthew Harris   [Update: Please congratulate Steve Stoliar for identifying this mystery group as the T-Bones! Nice research, Steve!]     [Update: Here’s a frame grab from YouTube.] Here’s a series of mystery photos … Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Rock 'n' Roll, Television | 18 Comments

Matt Weinstock, Jan. 26, 1961

Posted on January 26, 2011 by lmharnisch

       Jan. 26, 1961: The sound of an auto collision at Sunset Boulevard and Roxbury Drive attracted the usual crowd of onlookers and as Eugene Rodney, producer of the Robert Young TV show, dejectedly appraised the damage to … Continue reading →

Posted in art and artists, broadcasting, classical music, Columnists, Comics, Matt Weinstock | 1 Comment