Black L.A. 1947: Honor Student Vesta Belle Sapenter Strangled; Suspect Released

Posted on July 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

image

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5320 Holmes Ave., in the Pueblo Del Rio housing project, via Google Street View.

 


July 24, 1947: The Sentinel reports that Benjamin Allen, 16, of 5217 McGarry St., is being held in the death of Vesta Belle Sapenter. Benjamin had scratches on his hands and was the last person seen with Vesta, the Sentinel said.

According to the manager of the Pueblo Del Rio housing project, neither Vesta nor her brother Carlisle ever got in trouble. “We do have considerable difficulty with teenage youngsters hanging around the administration building at night, but neither Vesta or her brother were ever among them,” the manager said.

L.A. Times publishes two paragraphs on Vesta’s killing.

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July 26, 1947: Son Cleared of Killing Father During Attack on Mother

Posted on July 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

One night in July, Bernard Robert Monday Jr. finally had enough.

The violence had been going on at least a decade, maybe longer. In 1937, when Bernard was 8, his father attacked one of two deputies serving a warrant and tried to grab the officer’s revolver out of its holster.

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Black L.A. 1947: The Story of Jimmie Lunceford’s Death

Posted on July 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

Mike's Waikiki In
Mike’s Waikiki Inn, 3741 S. Western Ave.

3741 S. Western Ave.

3741 S. Western Ave., via Google Street View.

July 24, 1947: The Sentinel publishes an account of the death of bandleader Jimmie Lunceford.

According to the article by Wendell Green, at dinner before that night’s performance, Lunceford told band members that he “ached all over.” He went on the band bus to try to sleep but the owner of a nearby record store asked him to autograph some albums and Lunceford obliged.

Lunceford collapsed in the record store and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. The band wasn’t informed of Lunceford’s death and played the first set. Several band members wanted to quit playing because the ballroom was refusing admission to black people who had gathered outside, but continued the set in the belief that Lunceford would handle the problem.

Also on the jump: Wendell Green says farewell to the Show Time column because he’s being replaced by Clinton M. Arnold, who covered the San Diego slavery trial.

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July 25, 1907: Fire Burns Foothill Bridge, Main Route From Monrovia to L.A.

Posted on July 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

July 25, 1907
Arcadia, Calif.

Despite the efforts of 75 volunteer firefighters, a blaze rapidly consumed a 150-foot wooden bridge on Foothill Boulevard over the Santa Anita between Arcadia and Monrovia.
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Black L.A. 1947: No Room on Athletes Plane for UCLA Track Star Lloyd LaBeach

Posted on July 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Sentinel, 1947
Berman’s has the new “Rugby Lounge” suit. Only $65 ($737.81 in 2018 dollars).

July 24, 1947: L.A. Sentinel columnist Edward Robinson has the story of UCLA track star Lloyd LaBeach, born in Panama to Jamaican parents, who came to Los Angeles because of the severe winters in Wisconsin, where he was attending the university.

Robinson said LaBeach won both sprints at the recent Pasadena Games, beating USC’s Mel Patton and earning a trip to the AAU competition in Lincoln, Neb. The “keep it white program” at USC said there wasn’t room on the plane to the games, Robinson said, although officials found room for others.

According to the Los Angeles Times, on June 13, 1947, LaBeach ended Patton’s string of 18 victories, defeating Patton in the 220-yard dash in the Southern Pacific AAU Pasadena Games held at the Coliseum at 20.8 seconds, and 20.7 seconds for the 200 meters. Patton narrowly defeated La Beach in the 100 meters, The Times said.

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July 24, 1947: Honor Student Vesta Belle Sapenter, 17, Strangled

Posted on July 24, 2018 by lmharnisch


L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Her name was Vesta Belle and she was 17, an honor student at Jefferson High, a mile and a half from her home at 5320 Holmes Ave. You might think she got her name in the paper for earning a scholarship or receiving an academic award.

Instead, her 14-year-old brother, Carlisle, came home from a playground and found Vesta Belle Sapenter’s body in her bedroom. She was partially undressed and had been strangled with a thin hemp cord. With so many murders of women in Los Angeles, you might expect The Times to give it decent play, but Vesta Belle got two paragraphs on Page 8. Just enough to give a few details and that fact that she was black.

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Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

July 24, 1907: Columbia University Professor Becomes an Explorer of the Occult

Posted on July 24, 2018 by lmharnisch



Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

July 24, 1907
Los Angeles

On a speaking tour of America, former Columbia professor James H. Hyslop is trying to raise interest in a scientific approach to psychic research while deflating the fabulous claims of mediums and other fakers.

“There is so much fraud in connection with the physical demonstrations, said Dr. Hyslop, that much time would be wasted in making the investigation,” The Times said. “To see a table get up and prance across the floor doesn’t prove anything in connection with a future life.”
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Found on EBay: Justice for the McNamaras

Posted on July 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

justice_for_mcnamaras_ebay_2018_0723

A vendor on EBay has listed one of the buttons that was created by the AFL to protest the trial of the McNamara brothers in the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times. According to some accounts (possibly true, possibly folklore), the gutters of downtown Los Angeles were full of these buttons after the McNamaras pleaded guilty.  Bidding starts at $50.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

July 28, 2018, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1949 Warner Bros. picture “The Girl From Jones Beach,” with Ronald Reagan, Virginia Mayo, Eddie Bracken, Dona Drake, Henry Travers, Lois Wilson, Florence Bates, Jerome Cowan, Helen Westcott, Paul Harvey, Lloyd Corrigan, Gary Gray and Myrna Dell.

The screenplay was by I.A.L. Diamond from a story by Allen Boretz, photography by Carl Guthrie, art direction by Stanley Fleischer, dialogue direction by John Maxwell, set decoration by William Kuehl, special effects by William McGann and Edwin DuPar, wardrobe by Leah Rhodes, makeup by Perc Westmore and orchestrations by Leonid Raab. Music by David Buttolph, produced by Alex Gottlieb and directed by Peter Godfrey.

“The Girl From Jones Beach” is available on DVD from Warner Archive.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 51 Comments

July 23, 1947: British Attacked in New Battle of Jerusalem

Posted on July 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

 

July 23, 1947, British Attacked

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

British Attacked
in New Battle
of Jerusalem

JERUSALEM, July 22 (AP)—A new “Battle of Jerusalem” roared tonight.

Machinegun fire, Molotov cocktails and road mines set off a new wave of violence which in eight days has taken a toll of eight killed and 57 wounded.
Sirens wailed three times in the Holy City today, twice for minor incidents and a third time for what appeared to be a big underground offensive.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — ‘The Diamond From the Sky’ Shines Light on Marketing

Posted on July 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

Diamond from Sky
“Like a Diamond From the Sky,” by Leo Bennett and Leo Wood, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Thanks to “What Happened to Mary?” (Edison, 1912), “The Adventures of Kathlyn” (Selig, 1913) and “The Perils of Pauline” (Eclectic/Pathé, 1914), serials skyrocketed in popularity with the American movie-going public. Production companies raced to meet the growing demand and grab their own share of box office glory.

American Film Manufacturing Co., more popularly known as the Flying A, eagerly joined the throng in 1915, hoping to top other companies with special bonuses: hiring one of the world’s best known actresses, and adding a competitive note to the series. They hoped to capitalize on the Thanhouser Co.’s innovation of offering a $10,000 prize to the winning suggestion of a sequel to its highly popular serial, “The Million Dollar Mystery.”

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July 23, 1907: A Belated Tribute to Heroic Officer

Posted on July 23, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jul 23, 1907, Burglar Captured

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

July 23, 1907
Los Angeles

John Conroy, a career criminal, planned his work carefully: He would wait until 10 p.m., pry open the skylight of J.C. Fleming’s jewelry store at 531 S. Broadway, climb down a rope and help himself to whatever he wanted.

But Conroy didn’t know that along with putting alarms on the front and back doors, A.D.T. security service, 118 W. 3rd St., had put a sensor on the skylight as well. As soon as the circuit was broken, supervisor J.P. Quinn called police while he sent Herbert Johnson to watch the store.

 

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July 22, 1947: TV, Jet Engine, Tucker Car on Display at World Inventors Expo

Posted on July 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

First-prize winner at the inventors exposition was Stanley Hiller Jr., who developed a helicopter in which two blades on a single shaft rotated in opposite directions, eliminating the need for a tail rotor.

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July 22, 1907: L.A. Housing Is Expensive

Posted on July 22, 2018 by lmharnisch


This is an encore post from 2006.

Note: $90 a month is $1,847.12 USD 2005.

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July 21, 1947: Julie London Marries Jack Webb

Posted on July 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

In the courthouse corridor, just after she received one of the biggest divorce settlements in Los Angeles history, someone asked her: “If you had your choice between half a million dollars and a happy home, which would you take?”

“A happy home.”

“With this husband?”

“I guess so.”
She walked to the elevator, looking unhappy.

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Posted in 1947, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Music, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

July 21, 1907: What the President Is Reading

Posted on July 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
July 21, 1907
Los Angeles

President Theodore Roosevelt suggests “reading of certain books of pure fiction that have the prime quality of being interesting.”
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July 20, 1947: Wealthy Woman Gives Estate – Including Homeless Camp -– to Santa Barbara

Posted on July 20, 2018 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1959

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. This was a follow-up to a post by Kim Cooper.

Lillian Child died in 1951 at the age of 75, four years after setting up provisions for a hobo jungle nicknamed Childville at her 17-acre estate on East Cabrillo Boulevard. Two years later, the property was deeded to the city of Santa Barbara by the Santa Barbara Foundation, the original recipient.

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July 20, 1907: Court Calls Hundreds in Struggle to Seat Jury in Dr. Chan Case

Posted on July 20, 2018 by lmharnisch



Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
July 20, 1907
Los Angeles

The court summoned 80 prospective jurors to decide the case of Dr. Chan, who was accused of practicing medicine without a license, but more than half asked Judge Rose to be excused from service.

“An officer was sent out with the summonses yesterday morning. He had not been at work more than an hour when the first indignant citizen appeared in court and demanded to be released from jury duty on the ground that his wife was ill and he had to go home several times a day,” The Times said.

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Black L.A. 1947: Sanitarium Offered for Woman on Trial in Slavery Case With Restitution to Victim

Posted on July 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

July 17, 1947, L.A. Sentinel

July 17, 1947: Clinton M. Arnold, special correspondent for the Los Angeles Sentinel, files updates on the case of Elizabeth Ingalls, who was accused of holding Dora Jones in slavery. In one recent development, Ruth Castendyke, one of Ingalls’ daughters, suggested that Ingalls be placed in a sanitarium and that the family make financial restitution to Jones.

Also: Prophet Jones (Dr. James F. Prophet Jones) agrees to pay $5,000 to his former congregation in Detroit, which accused him of financial misconduct.
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July 19, 1907: Covina Celebrates Launch of Streetcar Service

Posted on July 19, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
July 19, 1907
Covina

Lavish preparations are underway for an enormous, free picnic to celebrate the opening of a Pacific Electric streetcar line to Los Angeles. “Covina had long awaited the approach of those shining iron bands that connect the pretty little valley town with the metropolis of the West, and is very happy,” The Times said.

E.H. Fabrick has created a gigantic coffeepot for the occasion, holding 250 gallons. “A large man looks like a pigmy beside this immense urn, fashioned for a race of giants,” The Times said. It’s accompanied by an equally enormous, 300-gallon bean pot patterned after an original (presumably normal size) pot in a Boston museum.
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