Movieland Mystery Photo – Clara Bow Edition

Posted on June 15, 2013 by lmharnisch

Mystery Department Store

What really got me wondering about “It” is the mystery department store. We have seen that the “The Public Enemy” and “Employees’ Entrance” used the May Co. Let’s take a look.

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Posted in 1927, Downtown, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo – DTLA Edition (Updated +)

Posted on June 14, 2013 by lmharnisch

June 14, 2013, Mystery Photo

What is the mystery downtown Los Angeles landmark in this mystery film?

Update: OK… Everybody (nearly) has recognized this building. It’s a landmark. Now… What is the movie? C’mon silent film fans!

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 11

Posted on June 14, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 25, 1937, Los Angeles Examiner

Dec. 25, 1937: Ted Healy “never learned to save money.” (Los Angeles Examiner)

In case you just tuned in, we are nearing the end of a long journey that began in April, when I stumbled across a Wikipedia entry claiming that Wallace Beery was involved in beating Ted Healy to death in the parking lot of the Cafe Trocadero in December 1937.

Wikipedia: Murder and Myth: 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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17| Part 18

In our last installment, we looked at Healy’s final bender and his death. Now we are going to look at the aftermath.

The Death of Ted Healy: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10

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Posted in 1937, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 10

Posted on June 13, 2013 by lmharnisch

20130429_121004

Dec. 22, 1937: Ted Healy in the Los Angeles County morgue, photographed by the Daily News.

In case you just tuned in, we are nearing the end of a long journey that began in April, when I stumbled across a Wikipedia entry claiming that Wallace Beery was involved in beating Ted Healy to death in the parking lot of the Cafe Trocadero in December 1937.

Wikipedia: Murder and Myth: 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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17| Part 18

This has been a lengthy trek, but at last we are going to look at what the newspapers called Healy’s “macabre last night out.” This is a complicated story several variations and the chronology as reported in the Los Angeles Examiner, Herald-Express and Daily News doesn’t quite make sense. The newspaper accounts also disagree with one another on some points.

The Death of Ted Healy: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

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Posted in 1937, Film, Hollywood, Nightclubs | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 9

Posted on June 12, 2013 by lmharnisch

Dec. 23, 1937, Albert Broccoli

Dec. 23, 1937: The Los Angeles Examiner gets an exclusive interview with Albert Broccoli about his encounter with Ted Healy at the Trocadero.

In case you just tuned in, we are nearing the end of a long journey that began in April, when I stumbled across a Wikipedia entry claiming that Wallace Beery was involved in beating Ted Healy to death in the parking lot of the Cafe Trocadero in December 1937.

Wikipedia: Murder and Myth: 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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17| Part 18

This has been a lengthy trek, but at last we are going to look at what the newspapers called Healy’s “macabre last night out.” This is a complicated story several variations and the chronology as reported in the Los Angeles Examiner, Herald-Express and Daily News doesn’t quite make sense. The newspaper accounts also disagree with one another on some points.

The Death of Ted Healy: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

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Posted in 1937, Film, Hollywood, Nightclubs | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 8

Posted on June 11, 2013 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles Daily News, Dec. 22, 1937

Dec. 22, 1937: “Beating of Ted Healy Told in Death Probe,” in the Los Angeles Daily News.

In case you just tuned in, we are nearing the end of a long journey that began in April, when I stumbled across a Wikipedia entry claiming that Wallace Beery was involved in beating Ted Healy to death in the parking lot of the Cafe Trocadero in December 1937.

Wikipedia: Murder and Myth: 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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17| Part 18

In our research trek, we have looked at the Wikipedia entries, examined the source material (as such) for the entries and concentrated on some of the key players, especially Betty Braun Healy, the comedian’s first wife and onetime vaudeville partner.

Healy’s ex-wife is crucial to understanding the stories surrounding Healy’s death because she is the only one to claim that people are being protected, that there is a cover-up, that she is being warned to keep quiet and that she is threatened with being blacklisted by the studios.

Everyone else — the coroner, the police, the district attorney, Healy’s widow and his sister, his manager and Healy’s doctors — all of them insist that Healy died of natural causes. They are unanimous.

It is only Betty Braun Healy who is adamant in speaking to the Los Angeles newspapers that there is a cover-up.

The Death of Ted Healy: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

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Posted in 1937, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Nightclubs | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated +)

Posted on June 10, 2013 by lmharnisch

June 10, 2013, Mystery Photo

Dewey Webb,  one of the L.A. Daily Mirror regulars, wrote the other day about TCM’s intro to its late-night shows. Dewey was saying that he only recently realized that these are clipped from other movies and not original footage. So I thought it would be fun to use these as mystery photos. I don’t recognize any of these shots, so I am going to make the comments live as they come in, a bit different from the usual practice.

Here’s our first shot.

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

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: John Decker – Painter to the Stars

Posted on June 10, 2013 by lmharnisch

Conklin-J Decker
Chester Conklin by John Decker, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

“To sing, to laugh, to dream, to walk in my own way and be alone…”

A recording of John Decker’s voice recited this phrase and the other words of Edmund Rostand’s “No Thank You” speech from “Cyrano de Bergerac” at his own Memorial Service on June 10, 1947. The phrase succinctly described how the 52-year-old Decker conducted his life, madly dining at the banquet of life like a male Auntie Mame. His wild life and exact talent as a caricaturist overshadowed his fine skill as an artist.

W.C. Fields as Queen Victoria

One of Hollywood’s Three Musketeers, along with actor John Barrymore and writer Gene Fowler, Decker had a colorful life that outshone even the most outlandish film. His surrealist eye captured Hollywood irony. As his stepdaughter Mary Lou Warren noted decades later, “He worked very hard at being a painter, but he worked very hard at being a character too.”

Born Leopold Wolfgang von der Decken in 1895 Berlin, the son of a Prussian count and British opera singer, Decker grew up in Brixton, England, after his parents fled censure of their scandalous relationship. His parents divorced and abandoned him as well as each other, leaving the artistic 13-year-old to fend for himself.

A 1923 article in Daily Variety noted that he studied acting for a short time, performing impersonations of author Charles Dickens in London, which earned poor response. Decker turned to scenery painting for theatrical productions while studying painting and also apprenticing with an art forger.

ALSO BY MARY MALLORY
Magic Castle
Mack Sennett
Brand Library
Auction of Souls

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Posted in 1947, Art & Artists, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Pan-Pacific Auditorium — Hollywood Magic

Posted on June 8, 2013 by lmharnisch

Johnny Eager

I was watching “Johnny Eager” the other night and spotted this. Did they actually use the Pan-Pacific Auditorium?

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Location Sleuth | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Watch TCM for Our Friends

Posted on June 7, 2013 by lmharnisch

Joan Renner

Hey look who’s on TCM in “TCM Fanatic: Film Noir!” It’s Joan Renner….

Mary Mallory

Mary Mallory!

Karie Bible

Karie Bible!

Watch for it!

Posted in Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Black Dahlia: Hodel Murder House Soil Samples? You Must Be Kidding!

Posted on June 7, 2013 by lmharnisch

image

You may recall the pop media frenzy back in February that “Buster the wonder dog” had found “something” at the Sowden House that was possibly, maybe, kind of, perhaps, sort of, related to the Black Dahlia case proving, oh, you know, that Dr. George “Evil Genius” Hodel committed every unsolved murder in Los Angeles, invented “New” Coke and the Edsel. Oh and he was also Zodiac.

Christine Pelisek, writing in the Daily Beast on Feb. 3, said:

“Last November, Buster was turned loose to search for scents related to human decomposition — and he perked up, or “alerted” as [owner Paul] Dostie calls it, at several potential clues in the basement. Soil samples were taken and results are expected next week.”

Notice that: “Next Week.”

Four months later…. Silence.

No one seems to be interested in following up on this little yarn, especially the pop media, who are busy chasing the next ambulance for five minutes of Fast ‘n’ Lite coverage.

Clearly, the soil samples are a bust and  the George “Evil Genius” Hodel franchise has nothing to show. All it can do is boast about the pop media coverage from Buster’s publicity stunt.

Tell me you’re surprised.

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Film, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 7

Posted on June 6, 2013 by lmharnisch

Sept. 20, 1934, Cafe Trocadero

Sept. 20, 1934: The Cafe Trocadero opens at “8610 Boulevard de la Sunset.”

Sept. 20, 1934, Club Trocadero

Before going further into the death of Ted Healy, I thought it would be interesting to look at the club where the incident occurred,  The Trocadero, which opened in 1934 and closed in 1940. Previously the Colonial Tea and Gift Shop (1925) and briefly the Chateau Trianon (mid-1934), the club was popular with Hollywood celebrities from the opening and was featured regularly in The Times in Kendall Read’s Around and About Hollywood and the Chatterbox society column.

And then there’s the Thelma Todd connection.

The Death of Ted Healy: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

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Posted in 1934, 1937, Film, Food and Drink, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 6

Posted on June 5, 2013 by lmharnisch

"Our Relations"
After the breakup: Betty Braun Healy with Stan Laurel in “Our Relations” (1936).

In case you just tuned in: We have been focusing on the life of Betty Braun Healy, Ted Healy’s first wife. She is the only one to protest the official ruling that Healy died of natural causes. She’s the one who says people are being protected, that there is a cover-up, that she is being blacklisted for not keeping quiet, etc., etc. Healy’s sister, Marcia, and widow (also named Betty) call her nothing but a publicity seeker.

The Death of Ted Healy: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

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Posted in 1937, Film, Hollywood, Stage | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 5

Posted on June 4, 2013 by lmharnisch

Betty Braun Healy
Dec. 28, 1937: A photo of Betty Braun Healy in the Daily News.

In case you just tuned in, I have spent a long time dissecting the death of comedian Ted Healy, starting with the yarn about him being beaten to death by Wallace Beery, Albert Broccoli and Pat DiCicco in the parking lot of the Trocadero in 1937.

Wikipedia: Murder and Myth: 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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17| Part 18

And after tearing apart the myth, the only thing to do was to look into what actually happened.

The Death of Ted Healy: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

And no, I didn’t expect this to take so long.

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Posted in 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, Film, Hollywood, Stage | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

No Carole Lombard Body Photos Here!

Posted on June 3, 2013 by lmharnisch

The all-time top 25 search terms for the L.A. Daily Mirror include “Carole Lombard body,” “Carole Lombard death photos,” “Carole Lombard plane crash,” “Carole Lombard crash” and “Carole Lombard body found.”

Stop it.

They’re not here. I don’t have any of these photos and I wouldn’t post them if I did. Whoever is looking for these photos, get a life.

The No. 1 search term? “Scotty Bowers and fact checking.”

Posted in Film, Hollywood | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated ++++)

Posted on June 3, 2013 by lmharnisch

June 3, 2013, Mystery Photo

And for Monday, a mystery woman…..

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘Adventures of Kathlyn,’ Hollywood’s First Cross-Promotional Stunt

Posted on June 3, 2013 by lmharnisch

kathlyn_w_leopard
“The Adventures of Kathlyn,” courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Between 1910 and 1920, filmmaking exploded in Los Angeles and Hollywood, with production companies flocking to the sunlit mecca of Southern California. Populations surged as men and women traveled here pursuing fame and fortune in the film business. With every passing year, film production, promotion and distribution grew more sophisticated and nuanced.

One of the pioneers in advancing motion picture production and publicity was a short, energetic man by the name of Col. William Selig, an honorary rank he bestowed upon himself. Selig jumped into the early moving picture business in 1895 Chicago after stints as a traveling vaudevillian and magician. He established the first permanent Los Angeles film studio in 1909. Selig Polyscope Co. filmed all types of stories, particularly westerns and exotic animal pictures.

ALSO BY MARY MALLORY:

Erte and the Movies
Ned Sparks — Hollywood Grouch
The Hollywood American Legion  — The House That Boxing Built

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Posted in 1912, 1913, 1914, Animals, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘The Sheik’ – Found on EBay

Posted on June 2, 2013 by lmharnisch

Rudolph Valentino The Sheik

A location photo that the vendor says shows filming of “The Sheik” on “Hueneme Beach near Oxnard” has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $49.99.

Posted in 1921, Film, Found on EBay, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on ‘The Sheik’ – Found on EBay

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 4

Posted on May 31, 2013 by lmharnisch

image

Jan 28, 1932: Betty Braun Healy sues Mary Brown Warburton for alienation of affection, via the Milwaukee Journal.

The most interesting person in the whole Ted Healy drama is his first wife, Betty Braun, his former vaudeville partner. Everyone else in the story — his manager, Jack Marcus; his sister, Marcia; the police; the coroner; even Dist. Atty. Buron Fitts —  accepts the coroner’s findings that Healy died of natural causes. It is only his first wife who makes the public allegations of a cover-up, that people are being protected and that she is threatened with being blacklisted for not keeping quiet.

Healy’s widow and sister dismissed her as a publicity-seeker, trying to capitalize on his death.

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Posted in 1927, 1932, 1937, Film, Hollywood, Nightclubs, Stage | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

The Death of Ted Healy — Part 3

Posted on May 30, 2013 by lmharnisch

20130429_121516

Dec. 23, 1937: The funeral of Ted Healy as reported by the Daily News.

Today’s installment was supposed to be a look at Jack Marcus, Ted Healy’s manager. Marcus picked up Healy and took him home after he was treated for the injuries he received and was present when he died. Marcus was the main spokesman to the press in the coverage of Healy’s death and the subsequent investigation.

But Marcus disappears from news reports after the Healy incident. There are a few later stories in The Times referring to men named Jack Marcus, but it’s unclear if any of them is the right one. There’s nothing further about him in Daily Variety, and neither Daily Variety, the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times published an obituary.

We do know that Marcus was one of Healy’s pallbearers, so he is in this photograph, which was published in the Daily News. Unfortunately, only two men, Frank Fay, front left, and Dick Powell, front right, are identified.

To be continued.

Posted in 1937, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments