Category Archives: @news

December 14, 1908: Mahler’s farewell concert with the New York Philharmonic

Posted on December 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 14, 1908: Gustav Mahler conducts his final concert with the New York Philharmonic with music by Wagner and Beethoven. Mahler was much applauded and his reading was “masculine” and “even rude!” But there was “untunefulness” in the wood winds and “overemphasis of the brass.” Continue reading →

Posted in @news, classical music, Front Pages, Music | Leave a comment

December 2, 1958: 90 die in Chicago school fire

Posted on December 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 2, 1958: Fire sweeps through Our Lady of the Angels school in Chicago, killing 92 children and three nuns. Continue reading →

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December 1, 1938: California prepares to execute two killers at San Quentin

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1938: California prepares to use the new gas chamber for two executions rather than the previous method of hanging. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1938, @news, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Politics, Religion, Sports | Comments Off on December 1, 1938: California prepares to execute two killers at San Quentin

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, 1958: LAPD honors dead officer’s heroism

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1958: The LAPD posthumously honors Sgt. Gene Nash with a Medal of Valor after he died following a shootout with robbery suspects. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Cemeteries, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD, Television | Comments Off on November 26, 1958: LAPD honors dead officer’s heroism

November 22, 1958: Estranged wife kills jealous husband

Posted on November 22, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 22, 1958: Roy Wesley Raines was born in Alabama in 1906 and died on a Burbank street in 1958, killed by his estranged wife, Mary Katherine, with a .22 rifle after he ignored a warning shot. Verdict: Justifiable homicide. Continue reading →

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November 7, 2008: Jews celebrate survival of Holocaust Torah

Posted on November 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 7, 2008: Nearing the somber 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Los Angeles Jews celebrate the story of a Torah that was pieced together from scattered texts smuggled into a Nazi labor camp. Continue reading →

Posted in @news, Religion | Comments Off on November 7, 2008: Jews celebrate survival of Holocaust Torah

November 3, 1958: Officials turn away football crowds at Coliseum

Posted on November 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 3, 1958: More than 100,000 people watch the Rams vs. the Bears at the Coliseum, with 10,000 more people turned away, Keith Thursby writes. Continue reading →

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August 31, 1958: Woman kills husband as children sleep, Giants win over Dodgers

Posted on August 31, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 31, 1958: Lillian Kella admits stabbing her husband, Ed, to death after a swimming party. Both had been drinking heavily. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Columnists, Dodgers, Front Pages, Homicide, Sports | Comments Off on August 31, 1958: Woman kills husband as children sleep, Giants win over Dodgers

August 28, 1958: Intruder kills former actress

Posted on August 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 28, 1958: Helene Jerome, described as a retired actress, is found strangled in her apartment at the Las Palmas Hotel. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Cemeteries, Dodgers, Film, Forest Lawn, Front Pages, Hollywood, Hollywood Division, Homicide, LAPD, Sports | 1 Comment

August 27,1958: Woman kills husband over singing, Reds win against Dodgers

Posted on August 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 27, 1958: Was the late Benjamin Beynon, stabbed to death by his wife, an abusive husband or just a bad singer? Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Dodgers, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD, Sports | Comments Off on August 27,1958: Woman kills husband over singing, Reds win against Dodgers

Couple found dead in pool, August 23, 1958

Posted on August 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 23, 1958: The puzzling deaths of a man and a woman who drowned in a home’s swimming pool. Continue reading →

Posted in @news, Suicide | 1 Comment

August 18, 1944: Times reporter killed covering war

Posted on August 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 18, 1944: L.A. Times reporter Tom Treanor is killed covering World War II. This is his last story. Continue reading →

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August 11, 1969: Ritual Killings Terrorize L.A.

Posted on August 11, 2025 by lmharnisch

Here is Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi’s opening statement in the Tate-La Bianca murders of August 9-10, 1969. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Music, Rock 'n' Roll, Television | Comments Off on August 11, 1969: Ritual Killings Terrorize L.A.

Found on EBay — The Herald Examiner [Updated]

Posted on April 2, 2011 by lmharnisch

[Update: My nickname for Daily Mirror readers is "the brain trust" because they always impress me with their knowledge. Fibber, Sam and Roger believe this is from the Chicago Herald-Examiner, which dates from 1918 to 1939. I was previously unaware … Continue reading →

Posted in @news | 2 Comments

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

NSA Analysts Defect to Soviet Union

Posted on August 2, 2010 by lmharnisch

Aug. 2, 1960: William H. Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell of the National Security Agency defect to the Soviet Union. See David Kahn's classic work "The Codebreakers" and James Bamford's 1982 "The Puzzle Palace" for more details.

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From the Vaults: ‘His Girl Friday’ (1940)

Posted on June 22, 2010 by lmharnisch

I once read an excellent book about single life that included this recipe for depression: “Go out and rent a movie with Cary Grant in it, come back and put the kettle on.” This advice has never failed me. You … Continue reading →

Posted in @news, Film, From the Vaults, Hollywood | 15 Comments

Russia Shoots Down U.S. Spy Plane

Posted on May 6, 2010 by lmharnisch

    May 10, 1960: A Lockheed engineer says this Soviet photo of the downed U-2 is a fake. May 6, 1960: Although the Soviets shot down a U-2 on May 1, the story didn’t appear in The Times until … Continue reading →

Posted in @news, broadcasting, Front Pages, Television | 1 Comment

Post Office Breaks Prayer Chain Letter

Posted on May 5, 2010 by lmharnisch

  May 5, 1910: The post office halts an “endless prayer chain” letter started by “a religious crank,” The Times says. The postmaster says that the letter is illegal because it threatens  a “dire calamity” for whoever breaks the chain. … Continue reading →

Posted in @news, Religion | 1 Comment