A regular reader forwarded the following post to me, regarding our go-to source for misinformation: Wikipedia.
Writing in The Daily Dot, E.J. Dickson describes surprise in discovering that a 2009 edit made to a Wikipedia entry as a college prank had spread all over the world.
July 30, 1944
Less than a month before Times war correspondent Tom Treanor was killed in France, his book “One Damn Thing After Another” was reviewed in The Times. The book is a collection of Treanor’s columns for The Times.
The book is readily available for purchase. A digital copy is available at Archive.org.
Treanor was badly injured Aug. 18, 1944, when the Jeep in which he was riding collided with a tank as the Jeep’s driver was trying to pass. Treanor died the next day.
In case you just tuned in, I’m using Louella Parsons’ May 15, 1944, item on Rouben Mamoulian being replaced as the director of “Laura” to take a meandering look at the making of the film, which was released in Los Angeles in November 1944.
So far, we have examined the early writing career of “Laura” novelist Vera Caspary, four murder mystery films made between 1932 and 1938 based on variations of a story titled “Suburb,” which Caspary sold to the studios eight times before Paramount told her to knock it off. We made a brief detour to “Easy Living,” in which we found that in adapting Caspary’s original story for the screen, Preston Sturges discarded everything but the title and the principal plot device: a fur coat.
We also looked at Caspary’s attempts at writing for the stage, finding that although she labored diligently on plays, they did not turn out well. Her previous effort before “Laura,” “Geraniums in My Window,” received 27 performances on Broadway and earned poor reviews. New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson described “Geraniums” as “a misshapen piece of Broadway clap-trap.”
”Laura” began as a play – and not a very good one.
The Making of “Laura” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | | Part 12 | Part 13
Spoilers ahead.
July 30, 1944
The youthful glamour department at MGM is in the hands of two young ladies whose widely divergent careers started about the same time. June Allyson, without five minutes’ training, went to Broadway and got herself a job in the chorus. Gloria de Haven, the daughter of the Carter de Havens, has been trained to be an actress from the day she learned to walk, and this training was backed by an education in private schools.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
Today is Elizabeth Short’s birthday. She would have been 90.
July 29, 1944
The most sought-after stage play of the year, “The Voice of the Turtle,” goes to Warner Bros.
It was flashed from New York that Jack Warner had bought John Van Druten’s Broadway hit, and the news was verified by Warners. Jack Warner personally closed the deal out here with Alfred de Liagre Jr., the producer.
This is not the original $3-million deal that included radio, screen and television rights; it is solely for motion pictures. While Warners would not verify any price, from another source I learned that over a half-million was paid, the highest price yet to be paid for any vehicle.
Margaret Sullavan and Elliott Nugent reopen in “The Voice of the Turtle” Aug. 28 in New York, and a second company will open in Chicago.
LEO: Avoid roundabout way or unscrupulous people and plans. Right will catch up to you sooner or later. Show Leo’s high purposeful character, no matter what!
Also: Hotshot Charlie in “Terry and the Pirates.”
From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
This week’s movie was “The Earrings of Madame de…” based on the novel by Louise de Vilmorin
Hollywood First National Bank Building, Courtesy of Mary Mallory.
Soaring to the skies, displaying confidence in Hollywood’s unlimited future, the First National Building, constructed and opened in 1928, brought Art Deco-Gothic beauty to Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. Operating as bank and office building for decades, the First National Building celebrated Hollywood’s business success and its glorious potential, a economics temple.
The Hollywood and Highland intersection served as the western end of Hollywood Boulevard’s business district, anchored by the regal Hotel Hollywood. Businesses sprang up around it, two blocks north of Hollywood High School. The First National Bank of Hollywood built a branch here, leasing space on its upper floor to the Frank Meline Co. Meline operated its Hollywood office here at 6777 Hollywood Blvd. from 1920, offering properties in the immediate area for sale. Buster Keaton even filmed a scene from his 1921 short “The Goat” looking south from a garage at 1741 N. Highland Ave. toward the intersection, per John Bengtson on his blog, “Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Film Locations.”
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
“Here’s a good spot to shoot, baby” are the probably the last words spoken by William B. Smith, 39, a dental technician (or a shipyard worker, depending on the story) who was confronted by his angry girlfriend, waitress Mildred Cook, 30, after he told her that he was reconciling with his wife, according to a Times story.
July 25, 1944
George Raft has always hankered after romantic parts. Time after time he has turned down “heavy” roles that have brought fame to other actors. But George has always argued that fans like romance and adventure, so it’s interesting that RKO has bought “Mr. Angel Comes Aboard,” the Charles Gordon Booth book. It gets the new title of “Johnny Angel” and George plays a modern swashbuckler and adventurer. He goes to RKO as soon as he finishes “Nob Hill” at 20th. Speaking of George – he’s about 20 pounds thinner and looks much better.
Loretta Young and Col. Tom Lewis have not bought “Bugsey” Siegel’s mansion. Too expensive, they decided, and the baby, due in a month, will have its first nursery in the house where they now live.
LEO: Power of thought, predicated with determined action, should render effectual assistance in solving tasks successfully. Don’t abuse or dissipate health.
July 24, 1944
Jennifer Jones, a quiet, 24-year-old movie newcomer, last March startled Hollywood by winning the Academy Award for her performance in “The Song of Bernadette.” In her second major movie, “Since You Went Away,” she gives another warm and sensitive performance. She is especially good in scenes with her real-life husband, Robert Walker, from whom she is separated.
The modern farm woman wants – electricity!
No one is surprised that Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to run for a fourth term, but Life has editorials pro and con.
Gen. Charles de Gaulle visits New York.
The movie of the week is “Since You Went Away.”
Vera Caspary’s second attempt to turn “Laura” into a play, in collaboration with George Sklar.
In case you just tuned in, I’m using Louella Parsons’ May 15, 1944, item on Rouben Mamoulian being replaced as the director of “Laura” to take a meandering look at the making of the film, which was released in Los Angeles in November 1944. So far, we have examined the early writing career of “Laura” novelist Vera Caspary, four murder mystery films made between 1932 and 1938 based on variations of a story titled “Suburb,” which Caspary sold to the studios eight times before Paramount told her to knock it off, and a brief detour to “Easy Living,” in which we found that in adapting Caspary’s original story for the screen, Preston Sturges discarded everything but the title and the principal plot device: a fur coat.
At long last, we will return to the point in Part VI, in which Caspary said she had tried to write a “mystery play.”
In her autobiography, “The Secrets of Grown-Ups,” Caspary wrote: “In a suitcase lay the scruffy typescript of the play I’d written as an escape from political argument.”
The Making of “Laura” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | | Part 12
July 24, 1944
Jeanette MacDonald’s absence from all social activities this summer is explained. She opens with the Chicago Civic Opera Co. in November and she has been studying hard with Lotte Lehman and her teacher of many years, Grace Adele Newell, to prepare herself for her debut. The contract, signed by Maestro Fausto Cleva, calls for three performances – two of “Romeo and Juliet” and one as Marguerite in “Faust” to be sung in French.
Bebe Daniels writes that the theater where she has been playing in “Panama Hattie” in London was hit by a robot bomb. None of the cast was in the theater, thank heaven.
LEO: Stars offer generous scope for both personal and business affairs. Your particular talents and skill favored; also domestic and social obligations.
Dear Martha Foster: Until eight months ago my husband and I were very happy with our two children. Then, one day at a plant party, he playfully kissed his secretary, and she took him seriously. She declared her love for him and there have been kisses and declarations of love at various times since. I learned this through a note I intercepted from her about a month ago.
In case you just tuned in, I was given a box of material that was cleaned out of the old press room — the “Cop Shop” — when Parker Center was closed.
Today we have an artist’s sketch of John Doe No. 52, a homicide victim described as a white male, age 17 to 20, about 5 foot 4, 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
I have no further information about this case. Judging by the DR number, I would assume it occurred in 1973.
July 23, 1944
The conversation I had with Bing Crosby several days ago was not about the world-famous crooner, the man who is already mentioned for this year’s Oscar because of his performance in “Going My Way.” It5 was with Bing Crosby, the star-maker – the man who was courageous enough to select Greg McClure, an unknown, to play John L. Sullivan in “The Great John L.”
CANCER: Aspects similar to Gemini today, heed same cautions. Especially protect family interests. Don’t worry about what is coming, prepare as well as can, then take things in stride.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
The fur coat — all that remains of Vera Caspary’s original story “Easy Living” — lands on Jean Arthur in Preston Sturges’ script.
In case you just tuned in, I’m using Louella Parsons’ May 15, 1944, item on Rouben Mamoulian being replaced as the director of “Laura” to take a meandering look at the making of the film, which was released in Los Angeles in November 1944. So far, we have looked at the early writing career of “Laura” novelist Vera Caspary and four murder mystery films made between 1932 and 1938 based on variations of a story titled “Suburb,” which Caspary sold to the studios eight times before Paramount told her to knock it off.
Further research reveals that Preston Sturges discarded virtually all of Caspary’s original story in writing the screenplay for the 1937 film “Easy Living.” The only plot element he retained was an expensive fur coat. In Caspary’s story, it is stolen by the leading lady; in Sturges’ script, the expensive fur coat is thrown from an apartment terrace and lands on working girl Mary Smith (Jean Arthur), who is passing in an open-air bus.
The Making of “Laura” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | | Part 12
July 22, 1944
Mr. Winkle Goes to War” has set Jack Moss in solid as a producer at Columbia – so solid that his next will be “Pal Joey.” The Broadway stage hit has nothing to do with Pal Joey Stalin, but was the show that first brought Gene Kelly to fame, fortune and fans. Need I add that Mr. Moss, who used to be Gary Cooper’s manager before he took up producing, is keeping his fingers crossed very tightly, hoping to get Gene for the movie version. That might not be such a shot in the dark as you might suppose, because MGM loaned Kelly to Columbia for “Cover Girl,” and look what happened.
(Of course, “Pal Joey” didn’t get made until 1957 with Frank Sinatra.)
Trixie Friganza has donated her money to the Church and is living at the Sacred Heart Convent.
This is the 1933 film “Girl Missing.” It opened in Los Angeles at the Warner Bros. Western Theater (now the Wiltern) on March 23, 1933, with “Untamed Africa.”
Douglass Dumbrille, photo courtesy of Mary Mallory.
Classic Hollywood studio films employed actors with striking faces and mannerisms as recognizable character types from the 1930s to the 1960s, giving a shorthand to understanding the story as well as a way to add color and spice to films. One of Hollywood’s most outstanding conniving villains during this period was Canadian Douglass Rupert Dumbrille, an often unctuous, forceful presence. Whether attempting to manipulate politics, business deals or romantic relationships, Dumbrille was plotting his rise at the expense of others, usually earning his comeuppance in the end.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on Oct. 13, 1889, Dumbrille married his wife, Jessie, on Jan. 21, 1911, and worked in a bank, dreaming of a life on the stage. The family entered the United States in 1913, with his younger son Douglas born in Cleveland in 1914. Dumbrille worked in a variety of stock companies and theatrical productions supporting himself and his family.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
If I hadn’t written the posts about Los Angeles in 1907 for the 1947project in 2006, I would have never heard of Ricardo Flores Magon, who was arrested in Los Angeles, along with Librado Rivera, Antonio Villareal and L. Gutierrez De Lara, on charges of trying to overthrow the Mexican government. Magon, Rivera and Villareal were arrested Aug. 23, 1907, at 111 E. Pico St., according to The Times.
So, unlike most people, I recognized the name Ricardo Flores Magon on the book languishing in the pile of discards from the book review section put out for the staff and decided it deserved a second chance.
“The Return of Comrade Ricardo Flores Magon” was written by Claudio Lomnitz, the Campbell Family Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University and published by Zone Books, which is distributed by the MIT Press. It retails for $34.95 and is available from Amazon for $25.79.
It was praised by Samuel Brunk in Times Higher Education, but otherwise seems to have been mostly ignored. Neither the Los Angeles Times, nor the New York Times reviewed it. Possibly there may be some reviews in the scholarly press down the road.
Here is a two-part video of Lomnitz discussing the book.
ladailymirror.com 