Jan. 23, 1974
In case you just tuned in, I was given a box of material that was cleaned out of the old Cop Shop at the LAPD’s Parker Center and I’m slowly going through the files.
Our subject is Celina Renee Manning, who sometimes used the name Celina Renee Garcia, who was reported missing Jan. 15, 1974.
May 22, 1944
America is waiting breathlessly for the impending invasion of Europe. In Dallas, churches promised to ring their bells and open their sanctuaries for prayer as soon as the invasion was announced.
With the South hit by flooding and late rains, many fields were filled with water. In Georgia, a correspondent writes: “White women for the first time in my memory are working in the fields in large numbers.”
The movie of the week is “Gaslight,” which stars Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. At right, the Broadway cast of “Angel Street” with Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn.
May 22, 1944
HOLLYWOOD, May 21 — Joan Bennett laughed when I mentioned that I had heard on the Twentieth lot that she was to co-star with Fred MacMurray in “Nob Hill.” “It looks,” said Joan, “as if I am inheriting all Merle Oberon’s castoffs. First, ‘The Woman in the Window,’ and now ‘Nob Hill.’ ” Only a gal with Joanie’s grand sense of humor would have kidded herself, because most actresses hit the ceiling at any suggestion that they are second choice.
When the Daily Mirror was at latimes.com, I did some digging into the many adventures of “Phlange Welder,” a fictitious name that was slipped into The Times beginning in 1961. The Los Angeles Examiner had its own fictitious person, Victor Frisbie, who rather miraculously appeared in The Times occasionally after the demise of the Examiner in 1962.
In 1994, Evelyn “Evie” De Wolfe compiled Phlange’s many exploits into a book, long out of print, which has been reissued with new material. She is having a book signing on Saturday, May 24, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Chevalier’s Books, 126 N. Larchmont Blvd.
I should emphasize that such antics aren’t tolerated today and even at the time, according to newspaper veterans, Otis Chandler threatened to fire anyone caught slipping Phlange’s name into the paper. Of course, in those days it wasn’t possible to go through ProQuest and hunt them out, as it is now, and research shows that the Phlange pranksters were a busy bunch.
May 21, 1944
Louella Parsons asks Olivia De Havilland: “Do you feel your court battle with Warners will affect your chances of getting back to the screen and good pictures?”
“Certainly not,” she said. “I won and am now reading scripts, but I am not eager to start work until John leaves. You see, he’ll only be here eight weeks.”
Olivia meant Capt. John Huston, Walter’s soldier son, and she makes no secret of the fact she loves him and that they’ll marry whenever he is free to do so. We talked of how it affected our lives to have the man of our hearts overseas and not know where he is stationed.
Rejected review copies molder in bins. Avert thine eyes, aspiring authors!
I have a millennial friend who thinks hitchhiking is a fine idea. Having lived through the 1970s, when thumbing a ride was considered cool, I told her about my experiences of getting picked up by drivers who were high, etc. etc., which finally forced me to quit hitching. She was unimpressed.
Which raises the question of whether you would give a lift to John Waters, who embarked on a hitchhiking odyssey from Baltimore to San Francisco and writes about it in the forthcoming book “Carsick” published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Mary went on a field trip to visit the Toluca Plaza building (formerly the Medical Arts Building) for her latest post, but some of her photos got caught in my spam filter. Here they are.
This is “Aunt Nell” “trying to hustle out of the picture.”
The northwest corner of Central and Manchester avenues, as shown on Google Earth. Notice the alley behind the stores.
In nine years of blogging about Los Angeles, I have learned that families often launder the past and, understandably, murder is rarely mentioned to the younger generations.
May 20, 1944
HOLLYWOOD, May 19 — Don Ameche and Twentieth Century-Fox are parting company. After a series of conferences failed to bring about an agreement, Don decided to move to another studio. His contract expires the last of June.
This news comes as something of a surprise, since Don has been with Twentieth for eight years. The only other pictures he made were when he has been on loan out.
Don was a radio star when he joined the Fox co. and has had some of their most important vehicles, perhaps the most important being “Heaven Can Wait.” He still has two unreleased pictures, “Greenwich Village” and “A Wing and a Prayer.”
Over the decades, towns and cities undergo great change as they evolve from agrarian societies into metropolitan areas. Multi-unit residential properties, modern office buildings and skyscrapers replace older buildings and styles of architecture, now considered too old-fashioned by some.
Many original buildings often survive a city’s transformation, some because they are located in what are now poorer communities that can’t afford to demolish them, while others undergo adaptive reuse. Currently, many buildings in downtown Los Angeles are undergoing gentrification and repurposing, such as decades-old factories seeing conversion as lofts and vintage hotels converted into apartments. Luck also helps some structures survive and continue operation just as originally intended.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
The bins of rejected review copies. Aspiring authors, avert thine eyes!
Note: I have been rummaging through the bins of review copies put out for the staff, trying to pick out books that are related in some fashion to the L.A. Daily Mirror’s themes.
“The Selected Letters of Elia Kazan,” edited by Albert J. Devlin and Marlene J. Devlin, published by Alfred A. Knopf, $40, caught my interest. I’m a snoop at heart and enjoy reading old letters and I suspect I’m not the only one. A volume of William Faulkner’s correspondence from World War I enjoyed a long and happy life in the guest bathroom at the Daily Mirror HQ before it eventually vanished.
This is a weighty book – 672 pages – but is, unfortunately, only half the conversation as we never hear from any of Kazan’s correspondents, who include Tennessee Williams, Clifford Odets, John Steinbeck, Budd Schulberg, Molly Day Thacher (Kazan’s wife) and many others.
An in-depth review appears in the New York Times | A review in the Hollywood Reporter
A few of the letters are short – like the one warning Warren Beatty to clean up his act to avoid being typed as a troublemaker. But most are long and involved. The book is certainly not beach reading and more likely to end up in nuggets in DVD commentaries, but it’s worth keeping around. On the jump, a sample selected at random, to Marlon Brando, Pages 241-244, regarding “On the Waterfront.”
May 16, 1944
HOLLYWOOD, May 15 — A year ago Dick Haymes sat on a park bench in New York and wondered how he was going to support his wife and baby. Today he is to have the lead opposite Betty Grable in “Diamond Horseshoe” when it goes before the cameras Aug. 1. That is an assignment any actor would welcome because Betty’s movies are tops at the box office.
After Darryl Zanuck took a look at Dick in “Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” he ordered retakes and added scenes. He realized he had something in Haymes who, in addition to that golden voice, has turned out to be quite an actor.
Louella Parsons’ May 15, 1944, item on Rouben Mamoulian being replaced as the director of “Laura” has inspired a long detour into the production of the film – beginning with Vera Caspary and her 1942 novel. Given the typical state of research in Hollywood biographies (heavy borrowing in lieu of original pick and shovel work) it’s not clear that much new work has been done on the film. Many sources seem to rely mainly on the account in Rudy Behlmer’s 1982 book “Behind the Scenes” (Behlmer also provided a commentary track on the DVD of the film).
Which brings me to my appeal to the brain trust:
The Library of Congress has the papers of Rouben Mamoulian, who was apparently reluctant to ever discuss being fired from the project. In the finding aid (which may be downloaded), we find intriguing items in Boxes 76 and 77 regarding “Laura,” including various scripts, “costume and hair tests” and schedules.
A trip to Washington to examine these tantalizing items is, alas, far beyond the travel budget of the L.A. Daily Mirror. But are there any members of the brain trust who are able to rummage through the Mamoulian items in search of something new on “Laura?” If so, drop me an email.
May 15, 1944
On the cover, George Rodger’s photo of Sir Bernard Montgomery.
This week’s movie: “The Hitler Gang,” starring Robert Watson as Hitler.
And a photo essay by Andreas Feininger on war production in the U.S.
May 15, 1944
Louella Parsons says: Rouben Mamoulian has asked to be released from directing “Laura” and Otto Preminger, the producer of this much discussed movie, will direct the picture. The trouble is a difference of opinion of the psychological treatment of the story and character. The two men could not see eye to eye and so Mamoulian stepped out.
“Laura,” based on Vera Caspary’s mystery drama, is one of the pictures — “Sunday Dinner With a Soldier” is the other — that is bringing about the $600,000 lawsuit which 20th Century-Fox filed against Jennifer Jones when she did not report for work. Gene Tierney and Clifton Webb are the stars.
Here’s a bit more on why Jennifer Jones didn’t appear in “Laura.”
According to a Times story published May 3, 1944, Jones failed to report for work on April 24, prompting 20th Century-Fox to take legal action.
Jones’ contract with Selznick Studios specified that she was to appear in one 20th Century-Fox film per year. According to Daniel T. O’Shea, executive director of Selznick Studios, Fox failed to meet one of the requirements of her contract, which was that the script had to be submitted in advance for approval.
O’Shea said that Fox failed to send an advance copy of “Laura.” Jones had not seen the script and therefore said “her personal plans precluded availability,” according to O’Shea.
The Times said: “Miss Jones, commenting on the dispute, said: ‘There is really nothing I can say. I am under contract to Mr. Selznick and know nothing of the discussions.”
A “true” crime book that was “written in secret” evokes “Black Dahlia Avenger” and it’s intriguing that “The Most Dangerous Animal of All” treads the same territory as Steve Hodel’s “Most Evil.” In case you don’t recall, retired LAPD Det. Steve Hodel, after claiming that his father killed Elizabeth Short and a lot of other women, also says Dr. George Hodel was the Zodiac killer.
And no, your memory isn’t deceiving you. We just had another book by a retired detective who calls himself “Cold Case Cameron” which says that the Zodiac killer was Edward Wayne Edwards.
Who also killed Elizabeth Short.
When he was 13.
May 14, 1944
The invasion of Europe is less than a month away. Even the Germans admit it.
On the jump:
Movies in production: “Farewell, My Lovely,” “The House of Fear” and “A Stranger in Our Midst.”
Best Sellers: “The Robe,” “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” “A Bell for Adano,” “Strange Fruit” and “Good Night, Sweet Prince.”
Book review: “The Red Cock Crows” by Francis Gaither. The story of a slave rebellion in the 1830s. A review in the Saturday Review, May 27, 1944.
May 14, 1944
Joe E. Brown pioneered entertainment in Alaska and the South Pacific, and only Don Barclay beat him to China. Bill Gargan, who was with Paulette Goddard in China, says the name Barclay is known to every serviceman there. He does a mind-reading act the boys love and when he appeared at Hollywood Canteen he had Cary Grant, no less, for his stooge.
Some of the collateral damage from the redesign of latimes.com was the disappearance of the old Daily Mirror. It’s back online at the same old place. Google hates broken links, so I’m not sure what the outage did to its presence in search results, but it lives on.
With the passage of time, as more material vanishes from the Internet, the role of archive.org is becoming increasingly important. Much of the blog is at archive.org, where you can also find such Web rarities as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s short-lived blog at The Times.
ladailymirror.com 