John Bengtson, who does so much amazing research into tracking down the sites where early films were shot, is giving a luncheon talk and book signing Nov. 16 at the Ebell of Los Angeles, 741 S. Lucerne Blvd. The event begins at 11:30 a.m., with lunch at noon. The program begins at 12:45 p.m.
John will discuss the filming of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Idle Class” and “The Kid” at Fremont Place near the club and Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd filming in the neighborhood on Larchmont.
This week’s mystery photos are courtesy of guest host Earl Boebert, who says: I was laid up for a bit recuperating from some heavy-duty dental work, and being constitutionally incapable of sitting idle I worked up this mystery photo series for you to enjoy, chuck, or use as you see fit. Don’t feel obligated — it already served its purpose by getting me on the other side of an aching jaw 🙂
This is Season Three, Episode Four of “Perry Mason” — “The Case of the Blushing Pearls.(1959)” One of the more obscure episodes, seldom syndicated because the already convoluted plot was rendered unintelligible by the cuts to accommodate extra commercials. It does have an interesting array of 30s – 40s character actors and one subsequently famous cast member, and is distinctive amongst the early Perry Masons in that the victim is a sympathetic character.
It was the first original Perry Mason story by Jonathan Latimer, an ex-Chicago crime reporter and ex-pulp fiction author who had already adapted two Erle Stanley Gardner stories. Latimer had previously written the screenplays for “The Glass Key” and “The Big Clock” and may have been used to the longer form — his plot could have benefitted by another 20 minutes to tie up all its loose ends. He improved, though, and ended up writing a total of 32 episodes.
The episode occupies an interesting spot in the evolving portrayal of Japanese Americans in mass media. 1959 was as close to the closing of the internment camps as 9/11 is to us today, anti-Japanese sentiment was still strong among veterans of the Pacific War, and it was just one year after the Kingston Trio’s notorious “U.C.R.A” quip on their debut album.
In this environment, and writing for the 10th-rated show that year, Latimer depicts Japanese Americans as something other than houseboys and gardeners — in this case, owners and professionals in the pearl trade. But it pretty much ends there, as he lays on just about the all of the rest of the stereotypes: a submissive female, the threat posed by an interracial marriage, hara kiri, and Charlie Chan Confucianism.
We had lunch recently with James Curtis, who showed us a copy of his upcoming biography: “William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come,” to be released Nov. 17.
James is justly proud of his book, which is the culmination of many years of work. The book features color plates of some of Menzies’ remarkable artwork, which has remained in the family’s possession since Menzies’ death in 1957.
James has a number of public appearances scheduled to publicize the book, and in January, he will be co-hosting four nights of Menzies’ films on TCM with Robert Osborne.
He scheduled appearances so far are:
Introducing showings at Film Forum in New York, Nov. 27-29 and Dec. 1.
Rizzoli bookstore in Manhattan, Dec. 4.
A night of UCLA archival restorations at the Billy Wilder Theater, March 26.
And the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Oct. 1-8, 2016.
Margaret Bourke-White and Michael Curtiz during filming of “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”
Renowned photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White fearlessly documented battles on land, air, and sea, surviving combat zones, strafing during a bombing run, torpedoing at sea, and the bombardment of Moscow. Always hungry for new experiences, Bourke-White traveled the globe to observe, to learn, and make sense of the world. To that end, she would work briefly in Hollywood learning the art of moviemaking, an area little covered in her career.
Born Margaret White in New York, the young girl quickly grew interested in the field of photography through her father’s enthusiasm for cameras, continuing to work with practitioners and study the field while taking classes in college, before switching her focus to lenswork. White worked for the campus newspaper at her alma mater, Cornell, snapping shots of the area around the school, before establishing a commercial photography studio in Cleveland, Ohio in 1927, specializing in industrial and architectural photography. It was here she combined her parents’ last names to form her professional moniker, Margaret Bourke-White.
“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays,” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is now on sale.
Judging by Instagram, there are some people in the world who see nothing wrong with dressing up as the victim of a vicious, brutal murder.
Pier Angeli and her little friend remind you that once again it’s time to turn back your clocks tonight.
A PDF of the film festival’s 240-page catalog can be downloaded here.
Note: Mike Hawks recently returned from the Pordenone Silent Film Festival and this is what he tells Mary Mallory.
By Mike Hawks as Told to Mary Mallory
For 34 years, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (the Pordenone Silent Film Festival) has been screening the best of silent cinema from around the world in Pordenone, Italy, about seventy miles from Venice. Co-founded by Americans and Italians, the festival lasts a week, with a diverse slate of films from virtually every country in the world. Audiences are just as varied and international, ranging from silent film cineastes to cosmopolitan journalists to renowned scholars.
The best available prints are presented to audiences with subtitles in English and Italian and accompanied by a wide range of musicians, screening from 9 in the morning to midnight each day. Ample lunch and dinner breaks are provided, along with opportunities to attend panel sessions or the book fair. It’s a week to enjoy old favorites, discover new treasures, broaden knowledge, and soak in the rich history of silent film and Italy.
Mary Mallory and Karie Bible (whom we profiled at The Times) have collaborated on a new book, “Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays,” which goes on sale starting Wednesday. The book is published by Schiffer and includes 200 images from the silent era through the 1970s. The book is available from Amazon as a pre-order for $23.45. It will also be available at $29.99 at Book Soup, Skylight Books and Vroman’s.
The book launch party will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Larry Edmund’s Bookstore, 6644 Hollywood Blvd., on Nov. 7.
Appearances follow on:
Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. at the Orange County Public Library in Cypress, 5331 Orange Ave.
Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. at Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.
Dec. 5 from noon to 4 p.m. at Hollywood Heritage Museum, 2100 Highland Ave, Los Angeles.
Also on Dec. 5, Karie Bible will be signing books between films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, 429 Castro St., San Francisco.
Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. Mary Mallory will speak at the Will and Ariel Durant Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, 7140 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.
Feb. 11 at the Art Deco Society of California, with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. and a talk by Karie Bible at 7:30 p.m., Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter St., San Francisco.
Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m., at a silent film screening and book signing, Niles Film Museum, 37417 Niles Blvd., Fremont, Calif.
Please congratulate Mary and Karie on their upcoming book!
This week’s mystery movie was the 1948 Warner Bros. film “April Showers,” directed by James V. Kern, with Jack Carson, Ann Sothern, Robert Alda, S.Z. Sakall, Robert Ellis, Richard Rober, Joseph Crehan, Billy Curtis, John Gallaudet and Philip Van Zandt. The screenplay was by Peter Milne, from a story by Joe Laurie Jr. The movie was photographed by Carl Guthrie, with art direction by Hugh Reticker and montages by James Leicester. The period wardrobe was by Travilla and makeup by Perc Westmore. The musical numbers were created and staged by LeRoy Prinz.
I rarely use musicals as mystery movies because they are usually much too familiar to the Brain Trust. “April Showers” was a bit of an exception because it’s more obscure and because it has a certain similarity to the life of Buster Keaton. (I will leave it to the Keaton experts to state exactly what those similarities are and possible legal ramifications arising from them.)
“April Showers” is not currently available on DVD.
6626 Franklin Ave., via Google Street View.
Hollywood, California, exploded in population during the late 1910s and early 1920s with the influx of moving picture companies arriving in town and people looking to work in the industry following suit. Originally a quiet, rural, farming community, Hollywood quickly grew more urbanized, with an increase in density.
Many people did not own their own homes during this period, renting single-family residences as well as apartment units from others. Subdivisions in the foothills began opening to cater to the more affluent new residents. Bungalow court apartments opened, appealing to middle-class singles and couples looking for somewhat independent living. Apartment houses were rushed into construction, replacing the family boarding houses that had dominated the scene.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
Halloween is drawing closer and that means people are working on their costumes. Let us say again: You can do better than dressing up as the victim of a brutal murder. Really you can.
You might consider, for example, Mad Moxxi or Harley Quinn as styled by some of our favorite cosplayers…
Enasni Volz
Enasni Volz
and Alyssa King.
You may rant all you want about being “East Hollywood,” but your reverse ISP geolocation shows you to be a Comcast customer in Ashland, VA.
Thanks for the crazy post. It was the best one I have seen in a long time.
ps. You’re blocked.
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1948 film “Raw Deal,” released by Eagle-Lion Films, starring Dennis O’Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland, Raymond Burr, Curt Conway and Chili Williams. It was written by Leopold Atlas and John C. Higgins, from a story by Arnold B. Armstrong and Audrey Ashley. It was photographed by John Alton and directed by Anthony Mann.
“Your Girl and Mine,” Moving Picture World.
From the 1840s on, many women in the United States fought to vote. Considered merely chattel, like slaves, women were forced to endure horrible marriages, see their children taken away, and forbidden to work in most professions, the property either of their fathers or their husbands.
Women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton began fighting for woman’s suffrage, believing if women had the right to vote, not only would their rights and conditions improve, but so would that of those less fortunate: the factory worker, the slave, the foreign laborer. The states and country would be forced to look at conditions like economics, schooling, and social issues, rather than focusing on military and industrial issues. As Anthony stated, “Women, we might as well be great Newfoundland dogs baying to the moon as to be petitioning for the passage of bills without the right to vote.”
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
Harry Houdini in “The Grim Game.”
Update: TCM is airing “The Grim Game” on Oct. 18. Set your DVRs!
Here is Mary Mallory’s post on the film.
Long considered mostly lost, Harry Houdini’s second film, “The Grim Game,” re-premieres in its entirety Sunday, March 29, 2015, at the TCM Classic Film Festival, 96 years after it was released. A suspense thriller packed chock-a-block with hair-raising stunts, “The Grim Game” smartly capitalized on an accident during filming to pack in audiences, obscuring some facts along the way.
Self-liberator and escapologist Harry Houdini ranked as the world’s top illusionist in the 1910s. Hungarian-born Houdini “magically” escaped from handcuffs, chains, strait jackets, and locked cases in performances around the world, thanks to careful planning and special keys. He masterfully employed newsreels, magazine, and newspaper coverage to exploit his fame and derring-do.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1933 Paramount picture “The Story of Temple Drake,” with Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge, Sir Guy Standing, Irving Pichel, Jobyna Howland and William Collier Jr.
It was directed by Stephen Roberts, with a screenplay by Oliver H.P. Garrett from a novel (“Sanctuary”) by William Faulkner. It was photographed by Karl Struss. The film also featured Elizabeth Patterson, James Eagles, Harlan E. Knight, James Mason, Louise Beavers and Arthur Belasco.
“Deliberately sordid, unsympathetic and nearly offensive … crudely realistic.” — The Los Angeles Times
“Better than anticipated …. A gruesome, sordid tale … but it has a certain strength.” The New York Times
“Temple Drake” elicited several interesting comments from the Brain Trust.
Gary Martin said: Also in 1959 at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, I had the pleasure of designing the set for Look Homeward Angel starring Miriam Hopkins. I had been warned that she would be “a bitch” but after I had a stairway changed to her needs …and in record time …I became her pet. One day she gave me a tub of gardenias …of two that she had picked at the beach. It was then I discovered that I am allergic to gardenias. A very nice lady. Is this she or am I just getting old and sentimental?
Howard Mandelbaum said: I saw “Temple Drake” at the Museum of Modern Art. The screening kicked off a big Paramount retrospective. Miriam Hopkins spoke afterward. She apologized for the movie, which was totally unnecessary. There are stories of her jumping the line in the ladies room that night, announcing, “I’ve suffered more than you have.”
And here’s why I picked the movie:
A restored print of the movie was shown at the 2010 TCM Classic Film Festival, but has not been generally released. I happened to record it during my DVR binge last year.
Look! It’s Rube Wolf!
Here’s The Times review from June 3, 1933.
6208 Franklin Ave., via Google Street View.
Hollywood’s population exploded during the early 1920s as motion picture production soared, thanks to studios moving their production facilities westward from New Jersey. Land values soared, and businesses and developers rushed to keep up with the growing need for residential and commercial space. Many of Hollywood’s most elegant office towers and theaters were erected during this period, as were some of its most striking bungalow courts and lavish apartment buildings.
Many of these upscale structures emphasized their luxury appeal with names like the Castle Argyle, Trianon, the Fontenoy, the Chateau Elysee, and La Belle Tour, with sparkling French Normandy or Classical-style architecture to match their catchy names. Their sophisticated look and style drew celebrities as well as high society or ambitious clientele.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
Well, it works for me.
I wanted a quick answer to the date of Aaron Copland’s “El Salon Mexico,” and sure enough, at the top of the Google search there was my old nemesis Wikipedia. I usually exclude Wikipedia from my searches, but this time I read a few paragraphs.
Jaw on floor.
Previously on the Daily Mirror:
Wikipedia: Murder and Myth
Here is the article as it exists at 8:06 a.m. on Oct. 8, 2015, and it’s necessary to quote it because Wikipedia articles are written in sand and can be revised by anyone at any time:
This work site at Broadway and 2nd Street is fenced off, but a gate was left open Friday long enough for me to snap a picture. The ongoing excavation for the Metro station has revealed railroad ties apparently set in gravel. The spacing seems very close together. Anyone have any ideas?
Continue reading
And in honor of Buster Keaton’s birthday yesterday, here’s a link to Buster’s scrapbook, which is online at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Here’s the link. Happy birthday, Buster!
ladailymirror.com 