Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Cinecon Film Festival 52 Offers Entertaining and Eclectic Films

Posted on August 8, 2016 by lmharnisch

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A still from “The King of Jazz,” which will be shown at the Cinecon Film Festival.

Labor Day weekend is almost upon us, and it offers another madcap melange of movies at the 52nd Cinecon Film Festival at the historic Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California. Cinecon, co-presented with Hollywood Heritage, welcomes film lovers, authors, scholars, and collectors to five days of film screenings, special programs, meeting celebrity guests, dealer’s room, and opportunity of making new friends. The festival offers a chance to see vintage rare and restored short films and features on the big screen as they were meant to be seen, with silents accompanied live on piano. This year’s Festival is particularly poignant, as it is dedicated to recently deceased past President Robert S. Birchard.

Virtually every genre is covered in this year’s Cinecon Film Festival, including musicals, westerns, film noir, comedy, and drama, spanning the years 1912 to 1949. Sound stars such as Gary Cooper, Ginger Rogers, Spencer Tracy, Dolores Del Rio, Claire Trevor, Anna Mae Wong, and the Marx Brothers are featured, along with such silent superstars as Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, Tom Mix, and Laurel and Hardy. Supporting player scene stealers like Gustav von Seyffertitz, Sojin, Roy d’Arcy, Sidney Bracey, Charles Lane, and Fred Kelsey also appear in scheduled films.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Olympics: Scenes From the 1932 Los Angeles Games

Posted on August 3, 2016 by lmharnisch

1932 Olympics

Several years ago, I bought a group of German images showing the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2016 Rio Games seemed like a good time to share them.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 1, 2016 by lmharnisch

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This week’s mystery movie has been the 1959 American International Pictures film “A Bucket of Blood,” produced and directed by Roger Corman. Please see the comments for Eric Yarber’s excellent analysis of the film. It is widely available on DVD.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Two Chinese Restaurants in Studio City

Posted on August 1, 2016 by lmharnisch

Rickshaw Boy Matchbook

A matchbook cover for Rickshaw Boy, Courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Graphics, films, advertisements, music – all demonstrate values and cultures of the time and place in which they were created. Words, phrases, or images considered acceptable at that time can often be considered demeaning or racist to future generations. Seeing them reveals a society and how far or little it has come.

California is a remarkable laboratory for understanding the evolution of thought and behavior towards people of other races, particularly the Chinese. Many Chinese first came to California during the Gold Rush fever of the late 1840s. Later their dedicated work and sacrifice helped build the railroads and vast agricultural empires that crossed the state and helped it expand in population and importance. When times became bad, however, white authorities blamed “the other” for problems they themselves created, angry and resentful that people like the Chinese were succeeding through hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. Laws like the Anti-Exclusion Act were enacted to limit their rights to become citizens, own property, or even marry.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Posted in Architecture, Film, Food and Drink, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory on Studio City Before the Studio

Posted on July 30, 2016 by lmharnisch

Studio City Before the Studio Flyer

One more reminder that Mary Mallory will be speaking at 3 p.m. today at the Studio City branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, 12511 Moorpark St. The event is free.

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Black Dahlia: Elizabeth Short’s Birthday

Posted on July 29, 2016 by lmharnisch

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July 29 is Elizabeth Short’s birthday. Try to find some way to remember her that doesn’t involve dressing up as a bloody murder victim. Please.

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 25, 2016 by lmharnisch

July 30, 2016, Mystery Photo

This week’s mystery movie has been RKO’s first singing, talking and dancing picture, the 1929 film “Street Girl,” directed by Wesley Ruggles, with Betty Compson, John Harron, Jack Oakie, Ned Sparks, Guy Buccola, Joseph Cawthorn, Ivan Lebedeff, Doris Eaton, and Gus Arnheim and His Ambassadors.

The screenplay was by Jane Murfin based on the story “Scandals of Broadway: The Viennese Charmer” by W. Carey Wonderly, published in the March 1928 issue of Young’s Realistic Stories magazine. Art direction was by Max Ree, photography by Leo Tover, musical numbers by Oscar Levant and Sidney Clare and editing by Ann McKnight and William Hamilton. RKO also adapted the story for the the 1936 film “That Girl From Paris,” starring Lily Pons with a return by Jack Oakie, and the 1942 film “Four Jacks and a Jill.”

The film has never been released commercially on DVD (or VHS as far as I can determine).

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Hollywood Country Club

Posted on July 25, 2016 by lmharnisch

Feb. 6, 1921, Hollywood Country Club

Editor’s note:  Mary will be giving a presentation on “Studio City Before the Studio: An Afternoon of Local History” on July 30 at 3 p.m. at the Studio City branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, 12511 Moorpark St. This post originally appeared in 2012.

With the name Hollywood Country Club, one would assume that a golfing club so named would be located in the actual city or hills of Hollywood, California. While a club by that name was twice attempted to be organized, it failed to materialize. In the late teens a group formed to build a new Hollywood Country Club, this time in the hills between Ventura Boulevard and what would become Mulholland Drive, in what is now Studio City, California.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 18, 2016 by lmharnisch

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This week’s mystery movie has been the 1946 Twentieth Century-Fox film “If I’m Lucky,” with Vivian Blaine, Perry Como, Harry James, Carmen Miranda, Phil Silvers, Edgar Buchanan, Reed Hadley and Harry James’ Music Makers. The screenplay was by Snag Werris, Robert Ellis, Helen Logan and George Bricker, music and lyrics by Josef Myrow and Edgar De Lange, choreography by Kenny Williams, photography by Glen MacWilliams, art direction by James Basevi and Leland Fuller,  set decorations by Thomas Little and Frank E. Hughes, costumes by Eleanor Behm and Carmen Miranda’s costumes by Sascha Brastoff. The movie was produced by Bryan Foy and directed by Lewis Seiler.

In selecting a mystery movie, I thought a musical was overdue. The political theme during the Republican National Convention was a bonus.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 66 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Russell Ball — An Eye for Glamour

Posted on July 18, 2016 by lmharnisch

Doris Kenyon
Doris Kenyon by Russell Ball, Motion Picture Magazine, 1928.

Motion picture still photography, just like any brand marketing, is all about creating a recognizable and attractive product appealing to consumers and leading to sales. Going a step further, stills photography’s aim is to fashion a fantastic dream world, taking people into the realm of fervid imagination. Russell Ball, one of the early masters of portraiture, composed alluring, glamorous images of stage and screen stars, accentuating a naturalistc romanticism in his work.

Born March 24, 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Russell Earp Ball fell in love with photography as a twelve year old, shooting when he could. He worked as a Gas Light Manufacturing Co. salesman in 1910 supporting his mother after the death of his father, per the 1910 census. By 1912 Ball was working in New York as a newspaper photographer, and married his wife, Gladys Hall, later a famous movie magazine writer, on February 1, 1912. His World War I draft registration in 1917 lists him as a commercial photographer, and by 1920 he was shooting motion picture portraits, per the 1920 census.

ALSO

Ernest Bachrach Defines RKO Glamour

Preston Duncan Shoots for Artistry

Bert Longworth and ‘Hold Still, Hollywood’

Mack Sennett stillsmen Albert Kopec and George F. Cannons

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Prof. A. Victor Segno: Los Angeles’ Greatest Charlatan

Posted on July 16, 2016 by lmharnisch

 

victor_segno_envelope_02_ebay_front

Prof. A. Victor Segno, my favorite Los Angeles charlatan, has surfaced on EBay. This envelope is addressed to the author of “How to Be Happy Though Married,” “How to Have Beautiful Hair” and many other books on self-improvement and mentalism at his HQ on North Belmont Avenue. The envelope undoubtedly carried the equivalent of $1, for which the sender could be sure of a “success wave.”

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Segno’s “success wave” (artist’s concept). Note the beautiful hair.

More about Segno in a 2007 blog post.

And a column in the Los Angeles Times in 2012.
victor_segno_envelope_02_ebay_back

Bidding on this item starts at $4.99.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywoodland Sign Premieres November 1923

Posted on July 13, 2016 by lmharnisch

Jan. 6, 1924, Hollywoodland Sign
Jan. 6, 1924: The Times publishes a photo of an Oakland car that was driven up to the Hollywood sign.

Note: Here’s a post from November 2013 for those who wrongly assume that the Hollywood sign was unveiled on July 13, 1923. (Wikipedia, no surprise, has it wrong). Mary Mallory gives the real story.

In the early 1920s, developers began opening virgin tracts of land for construction all around Los Angeles. To help sell these new developments, real estate agents coined fancy names like Bryn Mawr, Outpost Estates and Whitley Heights, while also constructing large signs spelling out their names with individual letters in white and red.

The Beachwood Canyon development named Hollywoodland opened March 31, 1923, under the auspices of real estate developers Tracy Shoults and S. H. Woodruff, on behalf of landowners E. H. Clark and Moses Sherman, and partner Harry Chandler. They considered the best way to advertise their new planned community, as well as outshine the myriad other developments around the city.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 11, 2016 by lmharnisch

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This week’s mystery movie has been the 1952 picture “Jeux Interdits” (“Forbidden Games,”) based on the novel by Francois Boyer.  It was adapted by Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost and director Rene Clement, with Georges Poujouly and Brigitte Fossey. The score is by Narciso Yepes.

Boyer began the project as a screenplay, but as the work languished, he transformed it into a novel. The book was translated into English as “The Secret Games” (New York Times book review by Charles Poor here, behind paywall). The novel was also reviewed in the New York Times by Katherine Anne Porter (also behind a paywall). The movie opened in New York in December 1952 and was reviewed in the New York Times on Dec. 14, 1952, by Naomi Barry (review also behind the paywall).

The movie received an Honorary Foreign Language Film Award at the 1953 Academy Awards.

“Forbidden Games” was not shown in Los Angeles until March 1954 at the UClan in Westwood, receiving a review by Philip K. Scheuer in the Los Angeles Times.  Scheuer wrote: “”Forbidden Games” is one of those rare motion pictures that seem, by a miracle of unseen presence, to be caught happening.”

The Criterion Collection DVD is out of print,  but the disc is available in two Criterion box sets: “Essential Art House, Volume III”; and  the 50-DVD “Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films.”

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 26 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: James Davies – Paramount’s Physical Culturist to the Stars

Posted on July 11, 2016 by lmharnisch

Search for Beauty Davies_crop

James Davies, left, gives Buster Crabbe a rubdown in “Search for Beauty,” with Robert Armstrong, right. Photo courtesy of Mary Mallory 

 

American culture has seen each decade popularize certain fashion styles and body types, some of which fade quickly into history and others which remain embedded in the zeitgeist. Much of these ideas and attitudes spring from the historical and social attitudes and events prevalent at the time.

The 1920s saw a drastic shift in consciousness following the upheaval of World War I. More women worked during the war while men where away at the front, learning they liked it. Females finally gained the right to vote in the United States in 1920. Many felt liberated to break from convention and try new things.

ALSO

Hollywood Athletic Club Trains Filmdom’s Elite

Richard Kline: Physical Instructor to the Stars

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on July 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

July 9, 2016, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1944 Warner Bros. picture “The Doughgirls,” starring Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Jane Wyman, Irene Manning, Charlie Ruggles, Eve Arden and a large supporting cast of Warners players.  The screenplay was by James V. Kern and Sam Hellman, with additional dialogue by Wilkie Mahoney, adapted from the play by Joseph Fields. The film was photographed by Ernest Haller, with art direction by Hugh Reticker and set decorations by Clarence Steensen. The film was produced by Mark Hellinger and directed by James V. Kern.

The film is available on DVD from Warner Archive for $18.59.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 37 Comments

A Wartime Fourth of July: Los Angeles, 1942

Posted on July 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

July 3, 1942, Harry Rankin

Note: This is a post from 2015.

Years ago, in researching Camp Cooke, I bought the diary of a soldier named Harry A. Rankin, who was stationed there in 1942 and early 1943 (and no, he doesn’t mention Elizabeth Short). Here’s his list of what he did on a pass to Los Angeles on July 3-5, 1942.

Among the places he visited were Clifton’s Cafeteria of the Tropics, 618 S. Olive.; Pershing Square, where a B-25 was on display; the Biltmore; Beverly Hills Hotel; the Hollywood Canteen; Grauman’s Chinese Theatre; the Pantages Theatre; Earl Carroll’s; and Temple Baptist Church at 5th and Olive – also known as Philharmonic Auditorium.  He also mentions the Platinium dance hall, which is a new one on me.

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L.A. Celebrates Fourth of July With Cricket Match, Bagpipe Contest

Posted on July 4, 2016 by lmharnisch


Note: This is a post from 2007.

July 4, 1907
Los Angeles

And how does Los Angeles celebrate Independence Day? With cricket matches and bagpipe contests.

 

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L.A. Celebrates the Fourth of July, 1889 – 1960

Posted on July 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

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July 4, 1944: Uncle Sam in a cartoon by Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale for the Los Angeles Examiner and republished in the Milwaukee Sentinel.

Note: This is a post from 2014.

Here’s a look at how Los Angeles has celebrated Independence Day over the years.

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L.A. Fourth of July, 1863: Pic-Nics and Fire-Works

Posted on July 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

July 4, 1863, Los Angeles Star

Note: This is a post from 2013

The complete July 4, 1863, issue of the Los Angeles Star is available from USC, which scanned  a copy at the Huntington.

July 4, 1863: Los Angeles plans to celebrate the Fourth of July with a 34-gun salute and a fireworks display in the evening. A ball was planned at the Willow Grove House in the afternoon and another ball in town in the evening.

The Star, a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, said: “This Declaration is being now reenacted. The same soil which sent forth its heroes to do battle for these fundamental truths is again called upon to endure a baptism of blood in their vindication.”

The Star also reports on a measure in Sacramento “requiring foreigners to show their papers before voting.”

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: The Bell & Howell Building Then and Now

Posted on July 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

617 N. La Brea via Google Street View
716 N. La Brea Ave., via Google Street View, from 2014.

Simple and elegant, 716 N. La Brea Ave. today remains little changed on the exterior as to how it looked when finished in 1931. It stands as a beacon to the power and success of Bell & Howell, as well as an exuberant look forward to the future, giving an patina of prosperity to whomever occupied it.

Bell & Howell, founded in 1907, was one of the top manufacturers of cameras and projectors serving the motion picture industry. Starting out with projectors in 1907, the company later began manufacturing perforators, cameras, and printing equipment required in the production and processing of motion picture film. Bell & Howell’s testing of technical equipment led to safer, more efficient, and diverse products.

 

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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