Jan. 19, 1947: Watch Out for His Left Jab!

Posted on January 19, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan, 19, 1947, Tarzan
Note: This is an encore post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Reluctant holdup
victim finds
left jab useful

Sometimes even the boys in the legal beak-busting business don’t fare so well when they run up against the unorthodox style of a southpaw.

Clinton W. White, 2641 Rose View Ave., a Southern Pacific conductor, was thankful today that he was a lefthander when a couple of strong-arm lads tried to rob him, he told police.

One tried to pin White with a half-Nelson of the right arm, he said. So he swung a sharp left and floored his opponent. While the other man fled, White once more called on his left to retire his attacker.

Booked on suspicion of robbery was a man who gave his name as Clarence W. Hartnett, 47. The attack took place at Avenue 64 and Pasadena Avenue, the conductor said.

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Jan. 19, 1907: A Conductor Throws Caution to the Winds

Posted on January 19, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 19, 1907
Los Angeles

Despite his ill health, Harley Hamilton drove himself to conduct a concert by the Los Angeles Symphony because he believed so much in bringing the music of Tchaikovsky (or in those days, Tschaikowsky) to the public. The concert at hand is West Coast premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.

“Harley Hamilton, too ill to leave his house, is just finishing his arrangements for the work of the symphony orchestra,” The Times says of his labors on the concert series.

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Jan. 18, 1947: L.A. Examiner’s Front Page ‘Crime Box’

Posted on January 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 18, 1947, Comics

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

163 Crimes in 24 Hrs. Here;
86 of Them Thefts
In the last 24 hours, 163 crimes were committed in Los Angeles. They were:
86 thefts
42 burglaries
10 robberies
7 assaults with deadly weapon
3 morals cases
15 automobiles stolen

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Jan. 18, 1907: California’s Racial Bans in Public Schools

Posted on January 18, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 18, 1907
San Francisco

In what is surely an embarrassing and awkward oversight, the California Constitution only prevents “Mongolian” children from attending white public schools when separate campuses have been created. The problem, legislators have discovered, is that the Japanese aren’t Mongolians and feel they somehow have the right to go to school with everyone else.

The case before the Legislature and San Francisco officials involves 10-year-old Keikeiki Aoki, who has been barred from the Redding public schools by Principal Mary A. Deane. In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court has issued a writ ordering Deane to show cause as to why she should not admit Keikeiki to school.
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Found on EBay: Souvenir of Club Mecca, Site of Deadly 1957 Firebombing

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

club_mecca_napkin

Mecca Bombing, 1957.

A vendor has listed a cocktail napkin advertising four Los Angeles night spots, including the Mecca Cafe at 5841 S. Normandie Ave. Six people were killed when a man who had been thrown out of the club threw a five-gallon bucket of gas into into the Mecca and set it on fire. Bidding starts at $9.99.

Here’s my 2007 post on the Club Mecca bombing.

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Jan. 17, 1947: Big Bill Tilden Gets Jail for Morals Case Involving Teenage Boy

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 17, 1947, Li'l Abner

Jan. 17, 1947, Bill Tilden

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

Jan. 17, 1947: William (Big Bill) Tilden, 54-year-old internationally known tennis star, yesterday was sentenced to serve nine months in the County Jail with a road gang recommendation by Juvenile Judge A.A. Scott for contributing to the delinquency of a 14-year-old boy.

Judge Scott excoriated Tilden for his actions, declaring: “You have been the idol of youngsters all over the world. It has been a great shock to sports fans to read about your troubles.

“I am going to make this an object lesson, no only to other persons tempted to do similar things, but also to parents who are too busy to concern themselves in determining what type of persons their youngsters are associating with,” Judge Scott commented.

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Jan. 17, 1907: The Changing Face of the City

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 17, 1907
Los Angeles

On a trip from Utah to visit his daughter, H.E. Gibson keeps getting lost as he wanders around Los Angeles. No, it’s not because Gibson is 80, for his mind is still sharp. It’s because he hasn’t been back since 1848 and things have changed just a bit.

Even the old familiar landmark of Ft. Hill is covered with homes, he says. About the only spot in town he recognizes is the Plaza, where he keeps returning to get his bearings.

Gibson came to California with the “Flash Emigrant Colony” to establish Mormon settlements. The group couldn’t raise the money to buy Rancho Cucamonga, so they bought a parcel of land in San Bernardino, The Times says.

Land was “dirt cheap” in 1848, with entire blocks selling for $500 to $1,000, ($9,910.34-$19,820.69 USD 2005), Gibson said. But instead of becoming a real estate speculator, he left for Utah to bring the news (published in a New York newspaper that came around the Horn) proclaiming that Brigham Young had been appointed governor of the Utah Territory.

Note: Today presented a difficult decision, but I passed on some incredibly offensive caricatures of an African American who had been arrested, accompanied by quotes in dialect: “Ah dunno nothin’ about no stolen chickens” indeed.

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Jan. 16, 1947: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Driver’s License Revoked!

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 16, 1947, Abbie an' Slats

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.

I never cease to be amazed at the placement of this story on Page 1 of The Times. While the major competing newspapers—the Examiner, Herald-Express and Daily News—are leading with the Jan. 15 murder of Elizabeth Short, The Times plays the story inside, proving once again that it considered itself the city’s family paper.

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

Jan. 16, 1947: Teachers Call ‘Song of the South’ Racist Propaganda

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

image
Jan. 16, 1947: Chef Tubbs is opening a restaurant at 1305-7 E. Olympic Blvd.

Olympic and Central, Google Street View

Olympic Boulevard and Central Avenue, via Google Street View.

Jan. 16, 1947, Los Angeles Sentinel

Jan. 16: Local 27 of the American Federation of Teachers, meeting in Washington, called the Disney feature film “Song of the South” “insidious and subtle propaganda against the Negro.”

According to Paul Cooke, head of Local 27, actor James Baskett was “hampered by having to portray the fixed conception of the Negro — a lazy, hat-in-hand, spiritual-singing inferior ‘old rascal.’ ” Cooke also criticized the film for the theme of “the Negro in service to white people, the Negro apparently whose only thought is to help solve the problems of white people.”

 

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Oscar Apfel, Paramount’s Forgotten Man

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

 

apfel_motionpicturenew121unse_0226
Oscar Apfel in Motion Picture News.

Multi-talented, smart, ambitious, hard-working, Oscar Apfel rose to the top of the early movie industry only to see evolving business practices, lack of luck, and bad choices push him down the ladder into just a small supporting part of the profession he helped create. A man whose contributions to the 1914 film “The Squaw Man” helped create the studio behemoth Paramount is virtually forgotten today, like so many early film pioneers.

Born January 17, 1879 in Cleveland, Ohio to German immigrant parents, young Oscar Carl Apfel applied himself both to education and work, looking for a way to earn a good solid living. The September 13, 1917 Albuquerque Morning Journal reported that he worked as a bank clerk in Ohio while performing as an amateur actor. Yearning for the more exciting life on stage, Apfel quit after he gained a role in the play “The American Girl,” traveling the country performing for 47 weeks in one night stands.

Hollywood at Play, by Donovan Brandt, Mary Mallory and Stephen X. Sylvester is now on sale.

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Union Rescue Mission

Posted on January 16, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

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Black Dahlia: Today Is Jan. 15 — Trim Your Roses

Posted on January 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Today is Jan. 15, and the Daily Mirror marks the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s death by pruning back the roses.

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Meet Victor Segno — L.A. Mystic and Con Man

Posted on January 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 15, 2007
Los Angeles

While making my daily check of EBay, I found another envelope from 1907, this one addressed to A. Victor Segno, 701 N. Belmont.

A brief check of Proquest reveals—what’s this? A major scam artist, self-help author and wife-stealer.

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Posted in 1907, 1908, 1911, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Education, Found on EBay, LAPD, Streetcars | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on January 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Jan. 20, 2018, The Reckless Moment
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1949 Columbia film “The Reckless Moment,” with James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O’Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair and Roy Roberts. The screenplay was by Henry Garson and Robert W. Sodeberg, adapted by Mel Dinelli and Robert E. Kent, from a Ladies Home Journal story “The Blank Wall” by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. The photography was by Burnett Guffey, art direction by Cary Odell, set decoration by Frank Tuttle, gowns by Jean Louis, musical score by Hans Salter and musical direction by Morris Stoloff. The producer was Walter Wanger and the director was Max Opuls (Ophuls).

“The Reckless Moment” is available on DVD from Amazon, but you will need an all-region player to watch it.

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

At the Del

Posted on January 14, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

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Not in My Back Yard

Posted on January 13, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 13, 1907
Los Angeles

The Times takes a light, humorous look at the destructive wanderings of Eaton Wash: a docile stream, if not entirely dry, most of the year, turned into a churning monster by heavy rains.

“The little river that makes so much trouble lives somewhere in the fastness of Eaton’s Canyon during the summer months,” The Times says. “In the rainy season it always comes prowling out for a wild outing.

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1907: Last Rites for an Early Church

Posted on January 12, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 12, 1907
El Monte

For half a century, the Baptist Church of El Monte and the Mason’s Lexington Lodge No. 104 shared a clapboard building on Main Street, the worshipers on the first floor and the Masons, as always, on the second.

Then came the developers and the urge to grow.

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Black L.A. Laura Bowman Cast in All-Black Production of ‘Anna Lucasta’

Posted on January 12, 2018 by lmharnisch

image

Jan. 9, 1947, Los Angeles Sentinel

Jan. 9, 1947:  Laura Bowman, who died in 1957 after a long illness, is to appear in an all-black production of “Anna Lucasta” at the Biltmore Theater. ”

Anna Lucasta,” written by Philip Yordan, was originally produced by the American Negro Theatre and ran for 957 performances on Broadway from August 1944 to November 1946, with Georgia Burke, Alice Childress, Alvin Childress and Hubert Henry. It was revived in September 1947 for 32 performances with Bowman, and Sidney Poitier in his second Broadway role.

The Los Angeles performance featured Alice Childress and Alvin Childress, veterans of the Broadway show, plus Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Warren Coleman, Inge Harrison,  Laura Bowman, Lance Taylor,  Monte Hawley, Kenneth Freeman and John Tate. After its successful run at the Biltmore, it was revived in April 1947 at the Belasco Theater.

Anna Lucasta

March 1, 1947: Lena Horne hosts a reception for the cast of “Anna Lucasta.”

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Jan. 11, 1907: USC Medical School Cadavers Found in Garbage Dump

Posted on January 11, 2018 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2007.

Jan. 11, 1907
Los Angeles

A woman living on a hog ranch near the Santa Fe railroad crossing over the Los Angeles River contacted police after seeing dismembered human bodies in the old dumping ground near George Street.

Investigators dug through the dump, retrieving the body of a child that was nearly intact, along with bits and pieces of a man and a woman, including their skulls. In addition to the remains, police found books and papers traced to the University of Southern California Medical School.
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Black Dahlia: ‘Who Is the Black Dahlia?’ Script on Craigslist

Posted on January 10, 2018 by lmharnisch

Who Is the Black Dahlia?

Someone on Craigslist has listed a copy of the shooting script for “Who Is the Black Dahlia?” the TV movie that featured Lucie Arnaz as Elizabeth Short and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Detective Harry Hansen (with an amusing turn by the saintly Tom Bosley portraying reporter Bevo Means, famed for his boozing).

The asking price is $240. As with anything on the internet, an item and vendor should be evaluated thoroughly before completing a transaction.

Note: Robert Lenski (whom I interviewed) had to change many elements of the story because people were still alive and refused to sign releases. Accurate, it is not.

Posted in 1947, 1974, 1975, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment