Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by lmharnisch

Sept. 26, 2015, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie has been First National Pictures’ 1931 film “Safe in Hell.” It was directed by William A. Wellman. Curiously, the credits come at the end of the film.  It starred Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harole, John Wray, Ivan Simpson, Victor Varconi, Morgan Wallace, Nina Mae McKinney, Charles Middleton, Clarence Muse, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Noble Johnson and Cecil Cunningham. It was based on the play by Houston Branch, with adaptation and dialogue by Joseph Jackson and Maude Fulton. Photography was by Sid Hickox.

Interestingly enough, “Safe in Hell” was also sketched out as a four-act opera, according to a catalog of Branch’s archives. A pre-code opera? Why not.

“Safe in Hell” is no longer listed at Warner Archive, but a Warner Archive version can be found at TCM for $17.99 or $14.99 from Amazon.

Continue reading →

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

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Jesse L. Lasky, Music Man

Posted on September 21, 2015 by lmharnisch

The Trained Nurses - Jesse lasky
Jesse Lasky on the cover of “We’ve Had a Lovely Time, So Long, Good Bye,” Courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Best known as one of Hollywood’s early motion picture moguls, native Californian Jesse L. Lasky also excelled at radio and theatrical production during his long career. A natural born performer and optimist, Lasky developed much of the material for the shows he produced, performed on stage by talented actors he discovered, thanks to his wide experience working in entertainment himself.

Lasky himself began performing at a young age, playing the cornet and dreaming of playing in the great John Phillip Sousa band. He points out in his biography, “I Blow My Own Horn,” that he served as solo cornetist in the San Jose Juvenile Band, later playing in tent shows. After his father’s death, he played in tent shows, the Bella Union Hotel, and music halls before landing a job playing in the orchestra at Keith’s Union Square Theatre, per Filmplay Journal in April 1922. The adventurous young man took off on tour to far away places like Hawaii playing his cornet, eventually returning to California to work as a newspaper reporter. Wanderlust captured him again, and he set off to Alaska to prospect for gold.

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

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia: Janice Knowlton Rants

Posted on September 18, 2015 by lmharnisch

Daily Mirror tapes

As I noted previously, I have been digitizing all my notes, audio cassettes and videos.

Today, I came across a recording of a 1997 voicemail message from the late Janice Knowlton, who made increasingly bizarre claims about her father, the Black Dahlia case and any number of conveniently dead celebrities who purportedly molested her.

She committed suicide in March 2004, but her death went unnoticed by the news media for months.

Here’s a brief clip.

Posted in 1947, 1997, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

David Scholer: ‘Living With Cancer’ 10 Years Later

Posted on September 18, 2015 by lmharnisch

David Scholer

 

 

Sept. 18 marks the 10th anniversary of the Rev. David Scholer’s sermon “Living With Cancer.” David was a good friend and New Testament scholar at Fuller Theological Seminary who spoke frankly about his terminal illness as viewed through the prism of his faith.

The sermon resulted in a feature story by then-Times reporter K. Connie Kang.

David died less than three years later. Here is his obituary by Elaine Woo.

Posted in 2005, Obituaries, Religion | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on David Scholer: ‘Living With Cancer’ 10 Years Later

Parkey Sharkey’s ‘Whiskey Road’

Posted on September 15, 2015 by lmharnisch

Parkey Sharkey

A copy of Parkey Sharkey’s “Whiskey Road” has been listed on EBay. Many people believe that Sharkey was invented by Mirror/Times columnist Paul Coates. He was for real. Bidding on “Whiskey Road” starts at $24.95.

ALSO

Paul Coates on Parkey Sharkey

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywood Cemetery Battles to Offer Place of Eternal Rest

Posted on September 14, 2015 by lmharnisch

 

image

Hollywood Cemetery, the Los Angeles Herald, May 21, 1905.

For over 115 years, Hollywood Cemetery, or what is now Hollywood Forever Cemetery, has offered a bucolic place of eternal rest for those finding their everlasting reward. The first constructed within the boundaries of what is now Hollywood, California, the cemetery was organized to serve the citizens of Cahuenga Valley in finding a place of rest for themselves and their loved ones. Instead of slow, peaceful days of running their business, the owners from the very beginning concept of the memorial have battled to even stay open, opposed by real estate and land interests.

The Hollywood Cemetery Association was first organized February 18, 1897 when F. W. Samuelson of Humboldt, Nebraska, Mrs. M. W. Gardner of Santa Monica, Joseph D. Rodford, Gilbert Smith, and Thomas R. Wallace announced they had filed incorporation papers with $100,000 planned capitol to build a cemetery near Hollywood and Colegrove, per the February 19, 1897 Los Angeles Times, on land purchased from Samuelson. They intended the land to serve as a resting place for rich and poor alike living in the surrounding area, and the city of Los Angeles, just two and a half miles away.

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

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 14, 2015 by lmharnisch

Sept. 19, 2015, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1945 Ealing Studios film “Dead of Night,” a supernatural thriller consisting of five separate stories and a sixth story that ties them together. Robert Osborne mentioned it recently in introducing “Went the Day Well?” and fortunately I had a copy in the archives thanks to my binge recording of (almost) everything on TCM before 1960.

The film opened in Los Angeles at the Four Star Theater in August 1946.

The Times’ Edwin Schallert said:

The picture will prove intriguing for those who are willing to “reach” for its purport and plot. However, it will perhaps have only an indifferent appeal for most audiences, unless they are caught by what might be termed its uniqueness….

In many ways, the feature carries less impact than the fine “March of Time” on atomic power, and the John Nesbitt “Passing Parade” about inventions that were due to hunches or accidents.

“Dead of Night” stars Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver, Frederick Valk, with Mary Merrall, Renee Gadd, Judy Kelly, Antony Baird, Miles Malleson, Robert Wyndham, Sally Ann Howes, Michael Allan, Googie Withers, Ralph Michael, Esme Percy,  Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Peggy Bryan, Michael Redgrave, Hartley Power, Elisabeth Welch, Garry Marsh, Magda Kun and Allan Jeayes.

It was written by John Baines and Angus MacPhail with additional dialogue by T.E.B. Clarke, based on original stories by H.G. Wells, E.F. Benson, John Baines and Angus MacPhail. Music was by Georges Auric.  The film’s segments  were directed by Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer.

“Dead of Night” is available on DVD from Amazon (U.S.) paired with “Queen of Spades”  or in a Region 2 DVD from Amazon UK at a better price.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 55 Comments

Hector Tobar: ‘Deep Down Dark’

Posted on September 13, 2015 by lmharnisch

Hector Tobar

Hector Tobar, with Carolina Miranda of The Times, discusses “Deep Down Dark” at the Last Bookstore, photo courtesy of the Last Bookstore.

We stopped by  the Last Bookstore last night to hear our old friend and former colleague Hector Tobar talk about his latest book, “Deep Down Dark,” the story of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped 2,300 feet underground for 69 days in 2010. The book was a New York Times bestseller and was one of the New York Times 100 notable books for 2014. It was also the basis for the movie “The 33,” starring Antonio Banderas, scheduled to come out in November.

Hector talked about how he got the job of writing the book after the miners signed an exclusive contract with a law firm (among other things, he had to prove that he wasn’t a faux Latino), get 33 men – and their families – to tell their stories, and weave all the stories into a cohesive narrative. He also praised the upcoming movie.

Héctor Tobar’s “Deep Down Dark” tells a modern-day odyssey from SOJC on Vimeo.

New York Times book review, Nov. 20, 2014.

One of the more interesting aspects of the book – for dedicated researchers – is that Hector was able to use a diary that was kept by one of the miners and various letters that were written while the men were trapped, rather than having to rely on their memories. The diary began as one man’s farewell letter to his family and continued for the duration.

 

The audience asked about how the men spent their time (they kept a regular schedule that included prayer), health hazards in the mine (Hector said the dust was the primary hazard and that the men tended to have silicosis) and what the men did after they were freed (the older men retired, others were semi-famous and got good jobs on the surface and a few returned to mining).

We look forward to reading the book and wish Hector the best on his next project, which he says is a novel.

Posted in 2010, 2014, Books and Authors, History | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Hector Tobar: ‘Deep Down Dark’

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Cinecon 51 Presents Entertaining and Eclectic Films

Posted on September 12, 2015 by lmharnisch

Douglas Fairbanks "Wild and Wolly"
Douglas Fairbanks in “Wild and Woolly,” Photoplay, 1917.

Another Cinecon has come and go, but left behind memories of rare film, good friends, and fun times. This year’s festival featured a mix of silent drama and rollicking movie musicals, and offering a little something for everyone. The weekend featured “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue,” just like in the old wedding saying.

The film lineup kicked off Thursday, September 3 in Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre at 7 pm with a showing of “The Great Showman,” a ten minute newsreel highlighting an anniversary salute to Sid Grauman. Featuring blah wraparounds with Ralph Staub and actor Gene Nelson, the documentary contained clips of people like Jack Benny, Ginger Rogers, Darryl Zanuck, and Joseph Schenck saying a few words about the legendary showman, followed by a song from Sophie Tucker. This reel offered a fascinating glimpse of producer Joseph Schenck speaking, a rare treat. Schenck helped run the early production companies of Constance and Norma Talmadge and brother-in-law Buster Keaton, before heading United Artists and Fox.

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

Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia: Going Digital

Posted on September 11, 2015 by lmharnisch

Cassettes

 

I am slowly digitizing all the interviews I have conducted into Los Angeles in the 1940s and it’s so nice to hear them again. This week, I did Fred Okrand (d. 2002) of the ACLU; Betty Rowland, the 1940s “Ball of Fire” burlesque dancer; and Irene Tresun (d. 2013), who gave me a tour of City Hall in 1997, when it was under reconstruction after the Northridge quake. I am so thankful that I spoke to these folks when I did. Even if they had little direct connection to the Black Dahlia case, they gave me a fabulous amount of background detail on Los Angeles history.

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, City Hall, History | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: The Zulu Hut – Studio City’s First Programmatic Architecture

Posted on September 7, 2015 by lmharnisch

 

Zulu Hut Close Up

The Zulu Hut, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Thanks to California’s inventive motion picture industry, eccentric, eye-catching examples of vernacular architecture took off in the 1920s. Though around for decades, vernacular or programmatic architecture hit its stride in the 1920s and refers to commercial buildings or signs designed to resemble what they are selling, particularly to those driving by in automobiles. Popular models here in Southern California included the Pup Cafe, the Brown Derby, Ben Hur Coffee, and the Jail Cafe, well documented in Jim Heiman’s colorful book, “California Crazy and Beyond.”

Actor-comedian Raymond McKee constructed the first example of roadside vernacular architecture in what is now Studio City in 1924 when he constructed the Zulu Hut. A long time performer, McKee began acting in films as early as 1912, working for such companies as Lubin, Edison, Kalem, Goldwyn, and Fox, to name a few. Brent Walker, author of “Mack Sennett’s Fun Factory,” states that McKee joined Mack Sennett in 1924 as Alice Day’s leading man, before moving on to play the young father “Jimmy Smith” to little Mary Ann Jackson in the “Smith Family” Series for several years. Besides investing in oil and real estate in the 1920s, North Hollywood resident McKee ( he lived at 11107 Sunshine Terrace), decided to open a restaurant near his home.

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

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

Historians’ Tools: Archiving Email With MailStore

Posted on September 7, 2015 by lmharnisch

 

Sept. 7, 2015, Mail Store

Much of the research I have done on the Black Dahlia case has been conducted via email, and after almost 20 years, I have quite a lot of it. I have tried to be diligent in backing up my email and copying it from one computer to the next as I upgraded, but I had no way of being positive that I had everything. For example, I used to use Outlook Express, which was prone to vapor lock because of corrupted files – requiring a long and tedious repair process. Some of my email was in Outlook, which saves email in a proprietary format (.pst). Since my upgrade to Windows 8, I have been using Thunderbird.

In other words, like most of us, after nearly 20 years, I had email files scattered all over my drives in various formats.

MailStore Home.

Aid4Mail.

Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 7, 2015 by lmharnisch

 

Sept. 12, 2015, Small Town Girl

Sept. 12, 2015, Small Town Girl
This week’s mystery movie was the 1936 MGM picture “Small Town Girl,” starring Janet Gaynor and Robert Taylor. It featured Binnie Barnes, Andy Devine, Lewis Stone, Elizabeth Patterson, Frank Craven and James Stewart. It was directed by William A. Wellman,  with a script by John Lee Mahin, Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett and Edith Fitzgerald from the book by Ben Ames Williams.

I chose it because I wanted to do a film edited by Blanche Sewell and most of her films are too well known to be a mystery movie.

Portions of the film were shot on the Monterey Peninsula and the crew set up its headquarters at Carmel, according to the Los Angeles Times. It opened in Los Angeles at Loew’s State and Grauman’s Chinese theaters on April 24, 1936, on a bill with “Charlie Chan at the Circus.” Edwin Schallert  of The Timesc alled it one of Gaynor’s best pictures.

MGM’s 1953 remake with Farley Granger and  Jane Powell is available on DVD. The 1936 version is not, as far as I can tell.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 63 Comments

Larry Gelbart’s Rare ‘My L.A.’ Revue – Found on EBay

Posted on September 2, 2015 by lmharnisch

My L.A. Sheet Music
I rarely brag about a find on EBay, but this is something special. This is sheet music from the ultra-obscure 1951 musical revue that took its title from Matt Weinstock’s “My L.A.” The production  — note the name of Larry Gelbart — had a lot of problems and closed after four performances. How this music ended up in the UK is unclear, but its arrival is eagerly anticipated at the Daily Mirror HQ.

Selections also appear on the CD “Sammy Sings Fain Again.”

More about Gelbart’s “My L.A.”

Posted in 1951, Found on EBay, Theaters | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Random Shot: Isabelle Yates in ‘Axis Powers’

Posted on August 31, 2015 by lmharnisch

Axis Powers

Snapped this photo last week during filming outside the Los Angeles Theatre.

Posted in Downtown, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 31, 2015 by lmharnisch

Sept. 5, 2015, Mystery Photo

Sept. 5, 2015, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1944 Warner Bros. picture “The Conspirators,” with Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid (Friday’s mystery guests), Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre (Friday’s mystery guests), Victor Francen, Joseph Calleia (Thursday’s mystery guest), Carol Thurston, Vladimir Sokoloff, Edward Ciannelli, Steven Garay (Thursday’s mystery guest) and Kurt Katch (Wednesday’s mystery guest). The screenplay was by Vladimir Pozner and Leo Rosten with additional dialogue by Jack Moffitt, based on a novel by Fredric Prokosch. The music was by Max Steiner. Directed by former mystery guest Jean Negulesco.

There were lots of interesting guesses on this film. Several people guessed “Mask of Dimitrios” which holds a special place in my heart because it was the first movie I stayed up all night to see when WGN in Chicago started running movies all night on the weekends in the early 1960s. But far too easy for the brain trust. “Gilda” was another popular guess. But again, too easy for the brain trust.

The DVD is available from TCM or for a few dollars less from Warner Archive. Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 43 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Sins of Hollywood – Tinseltown’s First Sordid Look at Scandal

Posted on August 31, 2015 by lmharnisch

The Sins of Hollywood
“The Sins of Hollywood,” via Archive.org.

From its very beginnings, the motion picture industry has endured protests and censorship attacks from conservative members of the American public, those scandalized at seeing women given the right to be heroines, use of spirits or drugs depicted on screen, accurate depictions of romantic or sexual relationships, and dramatic depictions of violence. At the same time, many of the same people complaining about these visceral images on screen were eagerly partaking of scandal sheets and tabloid newspapers filled with muck, sensationalism, and gossip. These hypocritical individuals failed to realize that one form of entertainment was just as bad as the other, but they allowed journalism to partake of First Amendment rights, but not the entertainment industry.

As early as 1905 to 1907, many persons began calling for censorship of moving pictures, and by 1909, many cities and states possessed censor boards which approved or disapproved films for public exhibition. Though they would censor film product for its licentiousness, these same public officials felt no need to alter or disapprove of scandalous printed forms of entertainment. Conservative voices increasingly voiced their opposition to film depictions whenever scandal erupted in the motion picture industry.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on August 24, 2015 by lmharnisch

image
This week’s mystery production was the 1961 “Perry Mason” episode “The Case of the Envious Editor,” which deals with the publisher (James Coburn) of a magazine company who tries to boost its declining circulation by pandering to the lowest common denominator with sexually oriented material. And things go horribly wrong – at least for him.

“The Case of the Envious Editor” was directed by Laslo Benedek and written by Milton Krims. The story consultant was Jackson Gillis.  It starred series regulars Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper and Ray Collins, and guests Philip Abbott, James H. Coburn, Paul Lambert, H.M. Wynant, Barbara Lawrence, Jennifer Howard, Vinton Hayworth, Sara Shane, S. John Launer, Sid Tomack, Dave Willock, Jim Drum, Virginia Carroll, Paul Power, Donna Hayes, Harry Hollins and (although I looked for him in vain) George E. Stone.  Director of photography was Frank Redman and art direction was by Robert G. Stone.

Mystery Photo, Aug. 29, 2015
No more pictures of missiles! “Women’s Viewpoint will deal frankly with sex from the point of view of the woman….”

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 64 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Theatre Mechanique: Little Theatre, Big Heart

Posted on August 24, 2015 by lmharnisch

Olga Baclonova Theatre Mechanique

Theatre has enlightened and entertained audiences for centuries as it weaves the tales of life and love through both the comedic and dramatic talents of myriad actors. While most stage acting involves the danger and electricity of live performance, sometimes it employs only the voice to bring characters to life, such as in puppetry.

Puppetry and marionette work come alive solely through the magic of performers’ skills in voice acting. Both have entertained people young and old for eons, either through the slapstick anger of Punch and Judy shows, or the technical skill of real theatrical performance. Los Angeles possessed its own unique form of puppetry work in the early 1930s with Ellsworth Martin’s Theatre Mechanique, a sophisticated blend of old and new technologies for stage enthusiasts in what some newspapers at the time called “the world’s smallest theatre.”

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

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Merl Reagle: Bonus Crossword Puzzles to Remember an Old Friend

Posted on August 23, 2015 by lmharnisch

Merl Reagle, 1974

Merl Reagle in 1974 for the Invisible Theatre production of “Mad Dog.” I kept asking him why he didn’t write parts for himself and he said if he had wanted to, he would have done it. Original photo by Tim Fuller.

Like his friends and his many fans in the world of puzzles, I was stunned Saturday to learn of the death of Merl Reagle, whom I met my senior year at Catalina High School in Tucson (Class of 1968).

I had the good fortune to sit next to Merl in a required class for seniors with the compelling name American Problems. Mostly what I remember from that class is having Merl show me how to construct crossword puzzles (at that point, he had already sold his first puzzle to the New York Times). It was an early lesson from the master, in which he talked about wide-open designs and other elements that aren’t necessarily apparent to the solver but are crucial to the constructor.

 

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Posted in 2015, Obituaries | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments