Category Archives: Comics

January 24, 1947: Electrical Engineer Seeks to Unlock Secret of Mind Reading

Posted on January 24, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 24, 1947: An electrical engineer says the answer to mental telepathy might be found in the unexplored frequency band between ultra-short radar waves and the longest waves of light. Continue reading →

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January 23, 1947: Four Held for Trial in ‘Red Hibiscus Murder’

Posted on January 23, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 23, 1947: Four youths are held in the ‘Red Hibuscus Murder” of Naomi Tullis Cook, who was found in a clump of hibiscus bushes next to the men’s restroom in Lincoln Park. Continue reading →

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January 22, 1947: Police Hunt ‘Large Nose Bandit’

Posted on January 22, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 22, 1947: Police hunt “Large Nose Bandit” in bank holdup. Continue reading →

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January 17, 1947: Big Bill Tilden Gets Jail for Morals Case Involving Teenage Boy

Posted on January 17, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 17, 1947: William (Big Bill) Tilden, 54-year-old internationally known tennis star, yesterday was sentenced to serve nine months in the County Jail with a road gang recommendation by Juvenile Judge A.A. Scott for contributing to the delinquency of a 14-year-old boy. Continue reading →

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January 7, 1947: Man Uses Same Coffee Cup for 27 Years

Posted on January 7, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 7, 1947: Truman B. Carl of Whittier has used the same coffee cup for 27 years. That’s it. That’s the story. Really. Continue reading →

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January 1, 1947: New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 1, 2026 by lmharnisch

January 1, 1947: Pansy Yokum writes her “Noo Yars Resolutions,” from Al Capp’s Li’l Abner. Continue reading →

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December 30, 1941: L.A. Women Are Slackers in Fighting the Axis!

Posted on December 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 30, 1941: December 30, 1941: It seems that local women didn’t get the memo about the being the “Greatest Generation.” They’re a bunch of slackers in the war against the Axis and don’t want to work as air-raid wardens. Continue reading →

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December 19, 1947: Going Down – City Hall Bans Clever Nicknames for Its Floors

Posted on December 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 19, 1947: The elevator operators at City Hall are having too much fun. The call the floor with the entrance to LAPD headquarters “Flatfoot Alley” and the city attorney’s criminal division “Ball and Chain.” The floor for the divorce courts is “The War Department” and “Alimony Alley.” Continue reading →

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December 18, 1941: Academy Awards Banquet Canceled; Oscars Postponed Due to War

Posted on December 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 18, 1941: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cancels its annual banquet, due to the war. The awards will be given out later in some informal gathering, Edwin Schallert writes. Continue reading →

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Deccember 17, 1947: Frightening Food From the 1940s — ‘Unusual’ Fruitcake

Posted on December 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 17, 1947: A recipe for an “unusual” fruitcake. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a $2,500 fine against Hollywood book dealer Marcell Rodd for selling the obscene book “Call House Madam.” The book, by Serge G. Wolsey, is now available at the Los Angeles Public Library. Continue reading →

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December 16, 1947: Back Broken and Skull Fractured, Girl, 2 Dies of Abuse; Mother Gets 10 Years in Prison

Posted on December 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 16, 1947: A terrible story of child abuse. A woman sentenced to 10 years for killing her 2-year-old girl gives birth to a son in the jail ward of county hospital. The judge takes the baby boy from the mother, saying: ‘You shall never see this baby again!’ Continue reading →

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December 15, 1942: Stripper Discharged From Waacs Was Out of Uniform – and Everything Else

Posted on December 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 15, 1942: Kathryn Doris Gregory, a stripteuse who performs as Amber d’Georg, is out of the Waacs for going AWOL.  The former chorus girl reported for training, then disappeared and was arrested after performing in a Thanksgiving matinee in Des Moines. Continue reading →

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December 15, 1941: Soldier Kills Civilian in Tragedy at Airport Checkpoint

Posted on December 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 15, 1941: Soldiers stop motorists on Sepulveda Boulevard to strip off blue cellophane illegally put over the headlights in the new wartime blackout.  Dr. Harry Brandel, assuming the soldiers were hitchhiking, ignored the order to stop and Private Eugene I. Tuttle, 19, fired what he said was a warning shot. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Jimmie Fidler, World War II | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

December 14, 1941: War Cancels Rose Parade

Posted on December 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 14, 1941: The Rose Parade is canceled and the Rose Bowl – between Duke and Oregon State – is moved to Durham, N.C. The streets of Pasadena were oddly quiet on New Year’s Day as millions reviewed memories of previous parades in all their glory, The Times said. Continue reading →

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December 13, 1941: Roundup of Aliens Overwhelms L.A. Jails

Posted on December 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 13, 1941: So many alien Japanese, Germans and Italians are being taken into custody that Chief Jailer William Bright of the County Jail is being forced to send some of his other inmates to county prison farms. Continue reading →

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December 12, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 12, 1959: In the days when the phone company had monopoly, getting a phone installed was a financial challenge, and Matt Weinstock has the story. Continue reading →

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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 →

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FBI Rounds Up Japanese in Hunt for Subversives, Dec. 8, 1941

Posted on December 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 8, 1941: The FBI begins rounding up 200 “alien Japanese suspected of subversive activities.”
Several truckloads of Japanese were seen passing through Brea toward Pomona, Brea police reported, and orders to stop all cars bearing Japanese and to confiscate maps and binoculars or radios were given. Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Aviation, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Nuestro Pueblo, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , | Comments Off on FBI Rounds Up Japanese in Hunt for Subversives, Dec. 8, 1941

December 3, 1941: L.A. County Cuts Welfare Costs, Pays Immigrants to Go Back to Mexico — Updated

Posted on December 5, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 3, 1941: To reduce the welfare rolls, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approves paying $100 [$1,441.19 USD 2009] to immigrants to move back to Mexico. Continue reading →

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December 4, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on December 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 4,1959: Matt Weinstock looks at the public relations industry’s attempts to improve its image. Continue reading →

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