Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Manhattan Beach
Aug. 27, 1907
Retired Episcopal minister the Rev. John Jewett, 83, wanted to die, so while staying with his son-in-law, J.D. Porter, he slit his throat with a razor.
The undertaker was called, but when he arrived with his hearse, Jewett was still alive, although death was imminent. The undertaker went back to his funeral home to wait.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Aug. 26, 1907
Santa Rosa, Calif.
Elected officials addressed a large rally devoted to saving the 800-acre Armstrong Grove, named after lumber baron J.B. Armstrong, who decided to save the stand of soaring redwoods rather than clearing it.
“Armstrong Grove contains the finest and largest redwood timber in California,” The Times said. “For years it has been a great attraction to tourists and is one of the features of the Russian River section.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
A doctor and a mysterious death—of course, Dr. Manuel de J. Castillo came under suspicion, although I suspect it was only briefly—in the Black Dahlia case.
The Times never followed up on Susanne Castillo’s death, either on the autopsy or the inquest. But Dr. Castillo turned up in the news several times in the 1950s and ’60s.
A 1940 graduate of the National Autonomous University of Honduras, Castillo got his California medical license in 1944. In 1955, he bought a 1,500-acre ranch near Bishop.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Aug. 25, 1907
Los Angeles
A 20-year-old Pueblo Indian from New Mexico was shot to death at the home of City Librarian Charles F. Lummis in a fight with a houseguest that began over a garden hose.
The gunman, Francisco Amante, 51, described as a Spanish minstrel who has been Lummis’ houseguest for two years, surrendered to police, but no charges were filed.
Central Avenue and 43rd Street, the site of the M and R Shopping Center, via Google Street View.
Aug. 21, 1947: The Sentinel features the M and R Shopping Center, 4306 –4308 S. Central Ave.
“This is the first super market owned by individual Negro capital, although there have been other cooperative markets,” the Sentinel said. The master lease was owned by Melvin Williams and his wife, Ruby.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Fire which mushroomed early yesterday from the basement of the clubhouse at the Inglewood Country Club, 3424 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, left the building and its furnishings a heap of charred or water-soaked debris but failed to deter golfers from enjoying their Sunday on the greens. For a score of golfers putted even while the clubhouse burned.
The cause undetermined, the fire swept through two locker rooms and the grill and then spread to the roof of the L-shaped building. Officially, damage was estimated at $50,000 ($473209.30 USD 2005).
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Coronet Play
Has ‘No Exit’
BY PHILIP K. SCHEUER
Everyone is on his own at the Coronet Theatre, where Pelican Productions last night presented Jean-Paul Sartre’s play “No Exit.” This goes for the individual in the audience as well as on the stage. The setting is hell—represented by a dingy “living” room with sagging wallpaper and a few broken-down pieces of furniture—and so is the experience. In this respect “No Exit” is true to itself.
Any levity in what I have just said is incidental. The play, which runs continuously for an hour and a half, contains no laughs, no tears, no action and no changes of scene in the conventional meaning of those words. It does have cumulative shock, writing that at least reveals a keen enough sense of theater (it must have, to hold the attention without recourse to the usual devices) and performances that on the whole convey a great deal of intent which is behind that writing.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
William Renwick, recent graduate of Pomona College, was to attend Yale in the fall, and rather than more mundane modes of travel decided to head East by auto in what he hoped would be the first transcontinental motor tour to begin in Los Angeles. To ensure that he arrived on time, he left in his Olds machine July 23, accompanied by professor E.E. Chandler.
“The couple were well-equipped for the long and tedious journey,” The Times said. “Renwick, as on one of his former appearances in public, looked like a walking arsenal, prepared for bears or Indians, but the only game encountered were jack rabbits.”
Unfortunately, the trip did not proceed well. On Aug.17, Renwick became ill and left the Olds in Ogden, Utah, for repairs while he visited friends in South Dakota to recuperate. Note: 727 miles in 25 days = 29 Miles Per Day or 1.211 MPH.
In the meantime, Chandler abandoned plans to accompany Renwick the rest of the way to Yale because his vacation was nearly over.
Chandler “reports that the trip was uneventful except for several hard-luck mishaps which befell them en route. Several breaks occurred, one when they were stuck in the sand and another when they struck a large rock and bent the axle. On another occasion they took the wrong road and went 50 miles out of their course before they saw anyone to direct them.”
Unfortunately, if Renwick and his Olds arrived at Yale, it was never recorded in The Times.
Note: This is an encore post that originally appeared in 2006.
Ray Parr’s story about Rich Owens, the longtime executioner at McAlester State Penitentiary, has been knocking around my home office for ages, passed along by a former co-worker many years ago. Writing for the Daily Oklahoman, Parr painted a long, vivid portrait of the man who killed 75 human beings: 65 by electrocution, one by the gallows, two with a knife, six with a gun and one with a shovel. And there could have been more: “I never count peckerwoods,” he said.
Hattie McDaniel’s home at 2203 S. Harvard. Ethel Waters lived almost across the street, the Sentinel said. Via Google Street View.
The home of composer William Grant Still, 3670 Cimarron St., via Google Street View.
Aug. 21, 1947: Sentinel columnist Harry Levette provides the addresses of many African American celebrities and notes that not everybody famous lives on Sugar Hill. Most of the homes are gone now as the 10 Freeway went through the neighborhood. The modest home of composer William Grant Still, 3670 Cimarron St., is still standing.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Girls aspiring to careers should follow women physicians’ example—many have both satisfactory home and professional lives, Dr. E. Mae McCarroll of Newark, N.J., told National Medical Association delegates and women’s auxiliary members last night.
The evening session at Second Baptist Church, Griffith Avenue at East 24th Street, concluded the 52nd annual convention’s third-day sessions devoted to a public health program, particularly as it applies to medical and hospital facilities for Negroes.
Aug. 21, 1947: In the newspapers, he was “The Black Shadow of Leiperville,” “The Black Baron of Leiperville,” “The Black Giant of Leiperville,” “The Black Shadow of Los Angeles,” or just “Giant Negro.”
Born in Mobile, Ala., Jan. 25, 1897, as Feab S. Williams, he fought under the name George Godfrey after a black heavyweight fighter of the 19th century.
Note: This is a post from 2005 that originally appeared on the 1947project.
Timothy G. Turner was a prolific, long-established writer for The Times, beginning with a feature on Anna May Wong in 1921. While he retired from the paper in 1954 (having taken a few years off to work in public relations), he continued contributing articles until his death—in fact he wrote a cover letter on a submission to The Times a few hours before he died in 1961 at the age of 75.
He was a bald, lanky man with glasses, and the unsmiling mug shot with his obituary makes him look serious, cold and, in his signature bowtie, a bit eccentric. However, the story says he took delight in poking fun at all pretensions, lived downtown and refused to learn how to drive a car.
This week’s mystery movie has been 1958/59 film “Das Indische Grabmal” or “The Indian Tomb.” With Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, Claus Holm, Walther Reyer, Sabine Bethmann, Rene Deltgen, Inkijinoff, Jochen Brockmann, Richard Lauffen, Jochen Blume and Helmut Hildebrand. From the novel by Thea von Harbou, screenplay by Werner Jorg Luddecke, original screenplay by Richard Eichberg. Music by Gerhard Becker, photography by Richard Angst. An Artur Brauner production. Directed by Fritz Lang.
“The Indian Tomb” is available on DVD from Amazon.
Note: This is an encore post from 2012.
In the last forty years, movie collectors and photography connoisseurs have recognized the art and value of Hollywood still photography, most particularly in the gloriously lit and composed portraits of glamorous stars. For decades, however, many people, including industryites, failed to recognize the skill and talent of the many photographers shaping the public’s perception of celebrities through their skillful work behind the camera.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Casa Blanca, Morocco
Aug. 20, 1907
The Times carries a vivid description of a battle between Moorish tribesmen, French sharpshooters and spahis (Arabs in the French service), and though the story is extremely detailed about the fighting, there isn’t a word of background as to the cause.
The unrest dates to March 1907, when a mob in Marrakesh killed Dr. Emile Mauchamp, a member of the geodetic survey. Further inquiry shows that there was a general attack on Europeans in which a British official killed two people.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
His favorite verses and anecdotes of his life were recited yesterday as old friends and admirers made their third annual pilgrimage to the grave of John Steven McGroarty, late poet laureate, playwright and Times columnist, at Calvary Cemetery.
The program, held before the poet’s simple headstone beneath the largest oak in the cemetery, was sponsored by the Eire Four Province Club with Thomas R. Lynch, club president, acting as chairman.
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.
Married veterans attending the Los Angeles campus of the University of California have discovered that the dollar—unlike some bank checks—doesn’t stretch like rubber.
They have found it impossible to live on their G.I. Bill of Rights $90 ($851.78 USD 2005) a month.
Max Linder, photo courtesy of Mary Mallory.
The 21st Annual Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival traveled the world in its many programs this year, featuring rare technology, recently discovered and restored films, and travelogues from near and far, something to intrigue silent film fans new and old.
The festival opened Friday, Aug. 10, with a screening saluting the dapper French comedian and auteur Max Linder, showcasing his gentle brand of slapstick comedy. A precursor to such screen funny men as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, the diminutive Frenchman, attired in tails and top hat, played a self-deprecating dandy getting into all types of mischief. As director, writer, and star, Max brought joie de vivre and romantic comedy to such films as “Max Juggler Par Amour,” “Le Soulier Trop Petite,” “Max – Victime Du Quinquina,” “Max Pintre Par Amour,” “Max and the Statue,” and “Troubles of a Grasswidower.”
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