Feb. 27, 1947: Terry Tate, of 123 N. San Pedro Street, is arrested in the death of his wife, Mary, at 107 Weller Street, described by the Sentinel as a rooming house or hotel. Tate was strangled and beaten Jan. 18, 1947. In July, Ocar J. Hallgren was arrested in the killing, which was never solved.
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1955 Warner Bros. film “Tall Man Riding,” with Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone, Peggie Castle, Bill Ching, John Baragrey, Robert Barrat, John Dehner, Paul Richards and Lane Chandler. The screenplay was by Joseph Hoffman, from the novel by Norman A. Fox, photography was by Wilfrid M. Cline, art direction by Stanley Fleischer, set decoration by G.W. Berntsen, wardrobe by Moss Mabry, orchestrations by Max Reese and music by Paul Sawtell. The producer was David Weisbart and the director was Lesley Selander.
“Tall Man Riding,” with “Colt .45” and “Fort Worth,” is available on DVD from Amazon.
From its beginnings, the motion picture industry developed adept advertising and promotional concepts to spread the word of its film products and stars. Quick to develop cross-promotions and partnerships with magazines and newspapers, the film industry grew new fans and box office receipts with practical but novel concepts like employing sheet music to sell its films. The Essanay Film Company followed the same playbook with sheet music titled “The Moving Picture Hero of My Heart” as a special giveaway at the 1916 Motion Picture Exhibitors League of America’s national convention, which later became popular across the country.
The Selig Film Company perhaps pioneered the practice of cross-promotion when they developed a partnership with the Chicago Tribune in 1913 to collaterally sell the serial “The Adventures of Kathlyn,” with the newspaper running serialized installments of each episode after it played in theatres, thus whetting the appetites of readers to see how the next episodes would play out. The serial set attendance records for those coming to see it, and the Tribune saw subscriptions and sales increase. As their book, “The WGN” stated in 1922, “The first step was to capitalize the soaring motion picture craze for Tribune benefit.”
Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,” will be released June 1.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Our story so far: I am blogging—in real time—as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files.” It’s been slow going and this is an especially tedious part because I’m examining Wolfe’s treatment of Elizabeth Short’s autopsy. I’m not through and I’ve turned up some outright literary fraud, so it’s prudent to be particularly careful.
Page 33
Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday:
“Yet there is not another cold-case homicide on record in Los Angeles in which the autopsy report has not been made available to the public.”
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Feb. 14-26, 1907
Los Angeles
The Rev. Ervin S. Chapman, a Presbyterian minister who heads the Anti-Saloon League of California, has won a victory through an address that persuaded an Indiana judge to rule that saloons are unconstitutional.
Chapman concluded his series of points by saying:
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Just out of curiosity, I did a Google image search for “loyalty.” I got Johnny Cash flipping the bird (turned into a mock motivational poster); another poster for the Army on its values; a picture of a dog, a huge tattoo reading “Love” and “Loyalty” featuring rosary beads, a cross and other Christian symbols; James Montgomery Flagg’s famous World War I recruiting poster of Uncle Sam; a boomerang; and a couple of ships.
A search for “loyal” brought up a company’s logo; an image of the Boy Scouts; and the cover to Tupac Shakur’s “Loyal to the Game.”
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Much has been written about poor crowd control at the Black Dahlia crime scene. Here’s an example of LAPD crowd control from the 1948 film “He Walked by Night,” which was the genesis of “Dragnet,” first as a radio show and then as a TV program. The idea of “Dragnet” arose during filming of “He Walked by Night” as Homicide Sgt. Marty Wynn, the technical advisor on the film, talked with actor Jack Webb about all the mistakes Hollywood made in portraying police work.
A frame grab from the movie shows the ropes used to keep people away from the car where a police officer has been killed. Retired Capt. Ed Jokisch has told me many times that in the 1940s, when he worked homicide, the call car had ropes used for crowd control.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
So what’s your point, Harnisch? Isn’t there a little schadenfreude here in dismantling Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles”? Didn’t you make your point at the preface?
Absolutely. So, as Sandy Koufax said: “The question is why.”
Continue reading
Eagle Rock bank building designed by Samuel Tilden Norton, via Google Street View.
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Feb. 24, 1907
Eagle Rock
Architect Samuel Tilden Norton has designed a bank building for Townsend Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock, The Times says.
Just to make research interesting, The Times misspelled his name as S. Tilton Norton. According to his 1959 obituary, his mother was the first Jewish child born in Los Angeles. After studying architecture in Los Angeles and New York, he designed the Wilshire Fox Building and Sinai Temple.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Oh dear…. oh dearie, dearie, dear. Just out of curiosity, I decided to check the address Wolfe gave as his home when Bugsy Siegel was killed. This was 803 N. Roxbury Drive (“Mogul,” Page 26).
First the good news. Wolfe actually lived there. Now for the bad news: It turns out that Wolfe’s mother sold the house to Sol Hurok in—what’s this—1944? That’s three (count them 1… 2… 3…) years before Siegel was killed.
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Feb. 23, 1907
Los Angeles
The Scotch Thistles beat the English Victorias 3-2 in Southern California’s first soccer game since the Caledonians and the Pasadena team met at Agricultural Park in 1890, The Times says.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
I have a poor track record with movie screenings, being one of the few people to walk out halfway through a sneak preview of “Boogie Nights,” which I thought was terrible. Of course the kid who conned me into seeing it told me it was “a Burt Reynolds movie” (a few years ago, any passing warm body on Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena was at risk of getting dragged into a theater for a screening). The polka music inserted as a placeholder for the soundtrack didn’t help. Imagine my surprise when everybody I knew absolutely adored it.
So I said “no” when someone asked me last week if I wanted to get into the sneak screening of the Brian De Palma movie “Black Dahlia” on Tuesday night in Sherman Oaks. Some people burn ardently for a movie deal, but I’m not one of them. I’m still thinking of David Thomson’s line in his New York Times review of Steve Hodel’s “Black Dahlia Avenger”: “Kevin Spacey should buy the film rights to this book quickly.” I don’t think there’s any way Hollywood could do a film about the Black Dahlia without turning it into a gruesome slasher flick. And I’m certainly not interested in that.
Hurry back! Continue reading
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Feb. 22, 1907
Los Angeles
Here’s how The Times weather stories read a century ago:
“For all the daylight hours yesterday, the rain drizzled down, much of the time like a heavy Scotch mist, but toward nightfall the storm deepened and the rain began to fall in earnest. For two hours in the early part of the night there was a constant downpour that soon set the gutters running full and brought about the usual results to the streets near the hill district.
“The wash from the highways intersecting the hills poured down onto the streets of the business section and deposits of sand and gravel caused much inconvenience to electric cars. At several of the intersections on Broadway and Hill streets, men were stationed with shovels to keep the tracks passable for cars.
Feb. 20, 1947: The lynching of Willie Earle drew nationwide attention.
Here is the New Yorker’s 1947 account of the trial in which 28 men were acquitted.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
There is an individual on ebay who sells copies of Elizabeth Short’s FBI file for $22 and some bidders drive the price even higher. The fact that the files are available online for free has curbed the demand somewhat. But I don’t know which is worse: a seller offering something that anybody can get for free (oh yes, you do get a “bound” version, if you consider a cheap plastic spiral a “binding”) or the people who buy it for $44.89, like sydney20030_3 .
Update: The price on ebay has gone up to $23, plus $5 shipping. Still free on the FBI’s website.
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
Feb. 21, 1907
Los Angeles
Someone who hates animals is at work in Angeleno Heights, having poisoned 10 valuable dogs and several cats, The Times says.
A vendor on EBay has listed old pictures of some rando stripper as Elizabeth Short for $3,000. No really.
I mean seriously? The description doesn’t hedge a bit – like saying photos that *might* be Elizabeth Short or photos that *resemble* Elizabeth Short. They are (supposedly) images of Elizabeth Short. One is dated June 19, 1945, when Elizabeth Short wasn’t anywhere near Los Angeles. Oops.
Feb. 20, 1947: Lois Ellis, victim of the “Milk Bottle Murder.”
The neighborhood of 1207 E. 47th St. via Google Street View.
From his bed in the jail ward of county hospital, Sam Ellis told of killing his wife, Lois, in a fight and then trying to commit suicide by slashing his wrists and filling the home with natural gas. Her son Ronnie, 5, who was found in the living room, also survived.
The Sentinel said that Sam Ellis, a World War II veteran, returned from the service to learn that Lois had been unfaithful. On the morning of Feb. 17, 1947, he was shaving in the bathroom when he and his wife began arguing. According to the Sentinel, the wife attacked her husband with a butcher knife. He took it away and attacked her with it. Police also found a broken pieces of a milk bottle, covered with blood, but it’s unclear from the story how bottle figured in the killing.
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Our story so far, the two-minute executive summary:
Donald H. Wolfe’s book “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles” has introduced the character of “Uncle Vern,” not a blood relative but the boyfriend of the author’s grandmother.
Uncle Vern is presented as:
