Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 70 — Request Line VIII

Posted on April 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

Yesterday, I explored the history of “courtesy cards,” which are a key element of Vincent A. Carter’s book: “LAPD’s Rogue Cops Cover Ups and the Cookie Jar.” Today, we’ll look at Page 167 at the request of Mary Pacios.

Holy smokes! Thanks a lot, Mary.

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 69 — Courtesy Card

Posted on April 11, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

I am taking a few requests before wrapping up the project as it’s extremely time-consuming. Yesterday we looked at Will Fowler’s tall tale about Elizabeth Short’s supposed physical abnormality at the request of Regular Anonymous Commenter.

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fades

Posted on April 11, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Pity the blind

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 68 — Request Line VII

Posted on April 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

The two-minute executive summary:

I am taking a few requests before wrapping things up. We have found the usual reliance on John Gilmore’s “Severed,” (recall that the title of this book is “The Black Dahlia Files,” although “Severed: 2006” would be more appropriate) and extensive manipulation of the scant material that Wolfe actually takes from the district attorney’s materials. Wolfe also engages in a hearty and enthusiastic smear of Capt. Jack Donahoe, based mostly on Vincent Carter’s “Rogue Cops” with a healthy dose of embellishment.

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Black L.A., 1947: 126 Men, 3 Women Arrested in Raid on ‘Wild Stag Party’

Posted on April 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

The former La Vada Apartments, site of a stag party in 1947, via Google Street View.

L.A. Sentinel, 1947
April 10, 1947, Los Angeles Sentinel April 10, 1947: Police raided the ballroom of the La Vada Apartments, 249 E. Vernon, arresting 126 men who had paid $1 for admission to a stag party.

The Sentinel reported that a crap game was underway with “approximately 15 women of the ‘preferred complexion’ circulating among the crowd.”

The paper said 126 men were arrested on charges of shooting dice and three women were arrested on charges of selling liquor without a license.

“Observers reported that the beautiful women present were herded into a police car, but the Sentinel could find no record of their being detained at police headquarters.”

The men were fined $5 to $10 and given two-day suspended sentences.

The Sentinel then published the names of all of those who had been arrested:

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Posted in 1947, African Americans, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: N. Hollywood Playhouse Promotes Theater in San Fernando Valley

Posted on April 9, 2018 by lmharnisch

 

North_Hollywood_playhouse_lapl
The North Hollywood Playhouse in 1962, when “Rebel Without a Cause” was being performed, from the Los Angeles Public Library. In her memoir, actress Teri Garr wrote being in the production.

 

For more than 75 years, North Hollywood has hosted theater companies offering acting opportunities for local residents, as well as presenting trained actors sharpening their skills. The North Hollywood Playhouse, located at 11043 Magnolia Blvd. and the corner of Blakeslee Avenue, perhaps served as the first theater in what is now theater row in North Hollywood, serving all ages as it promoted and extolled the joys of theater.

Little is known about the exact date the Playhouse opened and when it was built, as building records appear not to exist with the City of Los Angeles. City directories show that the address served as the Boy Scouts of America Hall from at least 1926-1930, but neither newspaper accounts nor building records show when this structure would have been erected, or whether it was later adapted into the Playhouse, though the city does list that an alteration permit was pulled in 1938 for the address. Not until February 20, 1941 was a certificate of occupancy issued for the theater.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,” will be released June 1.

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 67 — A Mystery Solved

Posted on April 9, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. Now I’m taking a few requests before I wrap it up.

On Friday, I raised the issue of Nina Blanchard’s appearance in Wolfe’s book. He doesn’t cite any source, so I couldn’t figure out where he got the material since she’s not listed in the district attorney’s files or any of the original newspaper accounts.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 9, 2018 by lmharnisch

April 14, 2018, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie was the 1941 RKO picture “Father Takes a Wife,” with Adolph Menjou, Gloria Swanson, John Howard, Desi Arnaz, Helen Broderick, Florence Rice, Neil Hamilton, Grady Sutton, George Meader, Mary Treen and Ruth Dietrich. The screenplay was by Dorothy and Herbert Fields, the musical director was Roy Webb, photography by Robert de Grasse, art direction by Van Nest Polglase and Albert d’Agostino, Miss Swanson’s gowns by Rene Hubert, other wardrobe by Edward Stevenson, set decoration by Darrell Silvera, jewelry designed by Laykin and Co., dialogue director Peter Godfrey. Produced by Lee Marcus and directed by Jack Hively.

This was Swanson’s first movie since she retired from the screen after making “Music in the Air” in 1934. Her next film was “Sunset Boulevard.”

“Father Takes a Wife” is available on a Region 2 DVD from Amazon.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 42 Comments

Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 66 — Request Line VI

Posted on April 8, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.Now I’m taking a few requests before I wrap it up. Yesterday, we looked at Page 131 at the request of Mary Pacios. Today, we’ll look at Page 162 at the request of Regular Anonymous Commenter.

Page 162

This chapter is titled “A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery…” paraphrasing former Examiner reporter Will Fowler, author of “Reporters.” As stated previously, “Will Fowler remembers” are three of the most frightening words in the English language, as we have caught Will in any number of false statements. I knew Will for years and treated him as a friend, but he lied his head off to me about the Black Dahlia case. I don’t think it was malicious; he just like to tell a good story.

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 65 — Request Line V

Posted on April 7, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

Now I’m taking a few requests before I wrap it up. Yesterday, we looked at Pages 121-122, today, we’ll examine Page 131 at the request of Mary Pacios.

Recall that yesterday we found some particularly nasty, scheming misuse of the district attorney’s material on Ann Toth, one of Elizabeth Short’s roommates. Wolfe actually skipped several pages with the note “Finis quickly changes the subject” and altered a name in the material to make it appear as if Toth were referring to Maurice Clement when she was referring to another man.

Not trivial errors, folks. This is a scheming, calculating, cynical lie intended to prop up a fictitious premise.

Let’s see what Wolfe has in store for us today:

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Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Black L.A., 1947: Famous Flier James O. Plinton Jr. Visits L.A.

Posted on April 6, 2018 by lmharnisch

April 3, 1947, James O. Plinto Jr.
April 3, 1947: James O. Plinton Jr., a pioneering African American aviator, visits Los Angeles to buy two Grumman amphibious planes. At the beginning of World War II, Plinton went to the Tuskegee Institute, where he was a flight instructor, training many of the Tuskegee Airmen. The Grumman aircraft were to be used in Plinton’s franchise to carry mail, passengers and cargo in the Caribbean, headquartered in Port-au-Prince, the Sentinel said.

James Plinton, Jet Magazine

Plinton’s New York Times obituary.

On the jump: Police Officer Charles Stoker –- author of the infamous self-published book “Thicker‘n Thieves” — busts two men “and an attractive blond woman” for smoking opium at 1737 W. 37th Drive.

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 64 — Request Line IV

Posted on April 6, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

Now I’m taking a few requests before I wrap it up. Yesterday, we looked at Pages 118-119

Today, Pages 121-122 at the request of Mary Pacios.

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 63 — Request Line III

Posted on April 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

Now, I’m taking a few requests before I wrap it up. Last time, we looked at Pages 108-111. Today we are looking at Page 119, at the request of Mary Pacios.

The title of this chapter is “Persons Unknown” and I couldn’t help but notice an unfortunately familiar name on Page 118: Robert Slatzer. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Will Fowler of “Reporters” fame used to claim that he was the ghostwriter on Slatzer’s “memoir” of being married to Marilyn Monroe for three days until the studios scotched the deal. In conversations, Will used to trash Slatzer every chance he got and worked Slatzer over on Pages 286-288 of “Reporters.”

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1907: Eugen Sandow, Early Bodybuilder, Suggests Exercises for Women

Posted on April 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post I wrote in 2006.

In a 1907 article in the Los Angeles Times, Eugen Sandow offers this advice to women seeking to retain their youthful appearance, noting:

“At first I thought it might seem that for a woman to look only 25 years old when she has actually seen 40 summers was too good to be possible.

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Posted in 1907, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Film, LAPD, Streetcars | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Black L.A., 1947: Mother Sues Hospital Over Baby Mix-Up

Posted on April 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

April 12, 1947, James Sperling
Jewell Sperling with her son James Sperling Jr., Pittsburgh Courier, April 12, 1947.

April 3, 1947: Jewell Sperling of 714 W. 32nd St., sues Hoover Hospital for $3,500, charging that she suffered mental distress from being sent home with the wrong baby.

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 62 — Request Line II

Posted on April 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read “Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles” and am taking requests for particular pages. Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

Yesterday, we looked at Pages 101-103, today it will be Pages 108-111.

As I continue on this project, I have speculated as to whether Wolfe ever considered the title “Severed: 2006” as it draws so heavily on John Gilmore’s book.

To the haz-mat pile of Dahlia books.

Page 108-111

Wolfe is continuing his portrayal of Elizabeth Short’s purported decline into the world of prostitution. This promises to be rather juicy. Entirely fiction, of course, but juicy.

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 61 — Request Line

Posted on April 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I have stopped blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles. Wolfe is using the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

The two-minute executive summary:

As promised, I went through the Wolfe book page by page until I finished with Elizabeth Short’s funeral. As throughout the book, we have found any number of errors, fabrications and instances in which Wolfe cites a source and then contradicts it. For example, he states that Harriette Manley divorced Robert M. “Red” Manley (the last person known to have been seen with Elizabeth Short) a year after the murder.

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Black L.A., 1947: Reward Offered for Leads in Streetcar Conductor’s Killing

Posted on April 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

1117 E. 58th St., Los Angeles, CA
1117 E. 58th St., where streetcar conductor Harold D. Moon was robbed and killed, March 30, 1947, via Google Street View.

April 3, 1947: Harold D. Moon, a conductor on the “U” streetcar, was shot in the back and robbed of $70 in receipts in a restroom at 1117 E. 58th St., the Sentinel said.

Witnesses said they heard several shots and “saw the presumed murderer, whom they identified as a Negro, make his getaway,” the Sentinel said.

The next day, Louis Patten, 44, a conductor on the “H” line, was hit with a gun butt and a bottle, slashed with a knife and robbed of $35 at 58th and Wall streets, the end of his route. Patten described the robber as a “huge Negro,” the Sentinel said.

Los Angeles Transit Lines report for April 1947.

 

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Black Dahlia: Blogging ‘Black Dahlia Files’ Part 60 — Deuteronomy 33:24

Posted on April 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Large ImageNote: This is an encore post from 2006.

I’m blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe is using the “Laura” format in which the anonymous body is discovered and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. We’re at the point in the story when Elizabeth Short’s body has been identified by her mother, Phoebe, sister Virginia and brother-in-law Adrian. The inquest is next.

Note: Because this project is incredibly time-consuming, I have decided to end my page-by-page blogging of the book once I reach the funeral, which I presume will be soon. After that, I will take requests for specific pages. Mary Pacios and Regular Anonymous Correspondent have already given me enough to keep me busy for a week and I invite anyone else to submit their favorites. I will take them in numerical order to maintain some semblance of chronology.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywoodland Opens

Posted on April 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Hollywoodland ad

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

By the early 1920s, real estate development was booming all around Los Angeles. For decades, the city had boldly advertised itself as a mecca in which average citizens could earn their share of the American dream under glorious sunshine and surrounded by beauty.

Los Angeles expanded west and north as the population exploded, and homes evolved from simple bungalows into elegant abodes. Neighborhoods such as Whitley Heights and Windsor Square catered to more prosperous Angelenos: movie stars, bankers and oil men. Streetcar tycoons and real estate moguls Eli P. Clark and Moses H. Sherman seized the moment to begin selling a long-held piece of property above Hollywood.

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