Category Archives: Columnists

Matt Weinstock, July 30, 1959

Posted on July 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 30, 1959: Matt Weinstock writes about Lawrence Lipton, the “Boswell of beatniks.” Also Venice declares war on beatniks! Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates — Confidential File, July 30, 1959

Posted on July 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 30, 1959: Paul Coates writes about a certain tangential figure in the Black Dahlia case whose phone number is confused with that of Edd “Kookie” Byrnes. Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, July 30, 1944

Posted on July 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 30, 1944: Louella Parsons profiles two new glamour girls at MGM: June Allyson and Gloria de Haven. Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock, July 29, 1959

Posted on July 29, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 29, 1959: Matt Weinstock writes about the dangers of body surfing; and a look at the slinky characters of Sunset Strip. Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates — Confidential File, July 29, 1959

Posted on July 29, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 29, 1959: Paul Coates writes about a man who has a problem with a wildcat in a eucalyptus tree. Also: A man tells Dear Abby he can’t live without his ex-wife. Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock, July 28, 1959

Posted on July 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 28, 1959: Columnist Matt Weinstock writes that insurance companies raising the rates of drivers who get too many moving violations. Also, a Van Nuys high school teacher is in trouble for giving students an “immoral sex survey” after another teacher already conducted the survey. “We know all the answers already,” one student said. Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates — Confidential File, July 28, 1959

Posted on July 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 28, 1959: Columnist Paul Coates writes about hospitals turning away patients without treatment if they couldn’t pay and didn’t have proof of insurance. Also stripper Candy Barr on the Sunset Strip and Dear Abby on a woman’s parents who are fighting after 44 years of marriage. Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock, July 26, 1960

Posted on July 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 26, 1960: Matt Weinstock asks whether standing ovations are necessary. Abby publishes a letter from a widow who had written in asking whether she should remarry. She did! Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates — Confidential File, July 25, 1959

Posted on July 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 25,1959: Paul Coates writes about a missionary who returned to the U.S. with leprosy. Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock — July 25, 1959

Posted on July 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 25, 1959: Matt Weinstock tells of a writer s adventures in Cuba while working on a film about Fidel Castro. Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates — Confidential File, July 24, 1959

Posted on July 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

Paul Coates, July 24, 1959: Tonight Show host Jack Paar says his wife is sexy ‘in a Republican sort of way.’ Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock — July 24, 1959

Posted on July 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

Matt Weinstock, July 24, 1959: On the search for Miss U.S.A. of 1957. Continue reading →

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Paul V. Coates — Confidential File, July 23, 1959

Posted on July 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 23, 1959: Columnist Paul Coates on trying to interview Simon Rodia about the Watts Towers. Continue reading →

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Matt Weinstock — July 23, 1959

Posted on July 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

July 23, 1959: Matt Weinstock writes about Don Quinn, who is writing a companion piece to Hawaii’s “Wedding Song.” Quinn calls it “The Divorce Song.” Continue reading →

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, July 23, 1944

Posted on July 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

Louella Parsons dishes Tinseltown secrets, July 23, 1944. Continue reading →

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Al Martinez, a Dying Boy and Some Peaches — A (Non) Christmas Story

Posted on December 25, 2024 by lmharnisch

The history of a Al Martinez’s (non) Christmas story about a dying boy who wanted some peaches. Continue reading →

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Al Martinez, a Dying Boy and Some Peaches — A (Non) Christmas Story

Posted on December 20, 2021 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2015. Jim Romenesko, for those who aren’t in the news business, runs an essential blog that serves as a clearing house for information, gossip, bad headlines and assorted gaffes. A Jan. 6 post … Continue reading →

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Al Martinez, a Dying Boy and Some Peaches — A (Non) Christmas Story

Posted on December 21, 2020 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2015. Jim Romenesko, for those who aren’t in the news business, runs an essential blog that serves as a clearing house for information, gossip, bad headlines and assorted gaffes. A Jan. 6 post … Continue reading →

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Pearl Harbor Survivor Kills Himself

Posted on December 7, 2020 by lmharnisch

Can’t draw? You too can be a famous cartoonist. Note: This is an encore post from 2012. Jan. 10, 1942:  Pearl Harbor survivor William Parks kills himself in San Francisco after going AWOL. “His note to his wife indicated that … Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Immigration, Religion, Tom Treanor | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Navy Releases Accounts of Pearl Harbor

Posted on December 7, 2020 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2011. Dec. 22, 1941: The Navy releases three personal accounts of the Pearl Harbor attack. Many acts of heroism are described, and these few lines shed more light on the presence of African … Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, African Americans, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Navy Releases Accounts of Pearl Harbor