Category Archives: Hollywood

Requiem

Posted on September 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Sept. 16, 1957 Los Angeles Franklyn West Storer, 50, woke up on a Saturday morning to discover that his beloved 16-year-old daughter, Mary Alice, had taken a fatal overdose of sleeping pills. In despair, he also took a fatal … Continue reading →

Posted in classical music, Hollywood, Hollywood Division, LAPD, Music, Suicide | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Political prayers

Posted on September 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 10-30, 1957 Los Angeles I have only touched in passing on Arkansas Gov. Orville Faubus’ fight to prevent the integration of Central High School in Little Rock. (Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to block federally ordered integration. … Continue reading →

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Mystery guest revealed

Posted on September 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

Anthony Brancato, killed Aug. 6, 1951, 1648 N. Ogden Drive, Hollywood, along with Anthony Trombino in the “Two Tonys Murder.” Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno eventually confessed to the killings.

Posted in #courts, Hollywood, Hollywood Division, Homicide, LAPD, Mickey Cohen | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Mystery guest revealed

Stag film raid

Posted on September 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

Feb. 10, 1957Los Angeles I stumbled across this story while researching yesterday’s post on South-Central vice raids and it was too wonderful to ignore. It sounds almost like one of the “Honeymooners” episodes involving Ralph Cramden, Ed Norton and the … Continue reading →

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Confidential–Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on September 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

Scenes from the Confidential trial: Sept. 4, 1957, Dorothy Dandridge testifies Photograph by Dan McCormack, Los Angeles Times

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Oops!

Posted on September 4, 2007 by lmharnisch

Sept. 4, 1957 Los Angeles On a field trip to Grauman’s Chinese Theater so that the court could visit the notorious Row 35, where Maureen O’Hara’s alleged tryst occurred, jurors discovered that it was really Row 40. Aisle C. Upon … Continue reading →

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True confessions

Posted on August 30, 2007 by lmharnisch

Photograph by the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles reporter and columnist Forabel Muir with a copy of her book, "Headline Happy." Aug. 30, 1957 Los Angeles What’s with all these marriage quizzes? How about some blood and gore? Believe it … Continue reading →

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Not on Netflix

Posted on August 28, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 28, 1957Los Angeles Incredibly enough, The Times failed to review this double feature from American International Pictures. Take my word for it, though: Bad things happen. How did AIP come up with such classics? In 1958, The Times’ Philip … Continue reading →

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Kiss and Tell

Posted on August 24, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 24, 1957 Los Angeles And where does our favorite scandal magazine get such high-quality dirt?  (Oh, I know, people only read it at the beauty parlor and the barbershop). It turns out that in Hollywood, money will unseal … Continue reading →

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Fuzzy Pink Nightgown

Posted on August 23, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 23, 1957Los Angeles Bad things happen when two men (Ralph Meeker and Keenan Wynn) abduct a movie star (Jane Russell). It turns out that her upcoming film is "The Kidnapped Bride" and everyone–including the studio and the alleged … Continue reading →

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Confidential: Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on August 21, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 19-22, 1957Los Angeles Whatever Polly Gould knew about Confidential magazine died with her. The Times said that Gould, 46, a former “investigator” for Confidential and Whisper, had once been a columnist for Jimmy Tarantino’s Hollywood Night Life magazine, a … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Paul Rosenfield on Merv Griffin

Posted on August 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

Here’s a two-part feature on Merv Griffin published in The Times in August 1981. And a letter from Griffin in response. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Letters

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Confidential: Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on August 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

Here’s the Confidential magazine article about Maureen O’Hara that prompted her lawsuit and the testimony about the alleged tryst at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. From the March 1957 issue. (Note: O’Hara successfully proved that she was out of the country when … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Grauman confidential–Part II

Posted on August 18, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 18, 1957Los Angeles Maureen O’Hara says through her lawyer that it was impossible for her to have engaged in the alleged tryst at Grauman’s Chinese Theater because at the time it supposedly occurred she was out of the country … Continue reading →

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Grauman confidential

Posted on August 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 17, 1957 Los Angeles BY JACK SMITH Actress Maureen O’Hara’s alleged love scene with a Latin in three rear seats of Grauman’s Chinese Theater was re-enacted before a spellbound audience here yesterday at the Confidential libel trial. A … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Film, Hollywood, Jack Smith | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Nielsens–add 1

Posted on August 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

What was "Gunsmoke?" Oh don’t do this to me. OK, kids. "Gunsmoke" was an incredibly popular TV show that went off the air in . . . 1975. (What? Could this be right?  Surely it wasn’t that long ago). It … Continue reading →

Posted in Hollywood, Television | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Confidential: Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on August 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 10-15, 1957 Los Angeles In testimony that was at times as colorful as its red and yellow covers, the Confidential magazine trial continued with an appearance by its former editor in proceedings that were all the more interesting because … Continue reading →

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The Nielsens

Posted on August 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 9, 1957 Los Angeles Top shows for the first two weeks of July 1957: "Gunsmoke" "The Ed Sullivan Show" "The $64,000 Question" "I’ve Got a Secret" "Playhouse 90" "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (reruns) "The Lineup" (reruns) "20th Century-Fox Hour" "What’s … Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Film, Hollywood, Television | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Confidential: Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on August 8, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 8, 1957 Los Angeles Prosecutors opened the case against Confidential and Whisper by charging that the magazines used prostitutes to lure movies stars into compromising situations and published the incidents in scandalous articles. The magazines, Publishers Distributing Corp. … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Oliver Hardy dies

Posted on August 7, 2007 by lmharnisch

The world mourns one of film’s greatest comedians, Oliver Hardy, who died in North Hollywood on Aug. 7, 1957. He was 65. Part 1 Part 2 The Mirror, Page 1 (Note the price of gas, 23.9 cents a gallon, is … Continue reading →

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