War Hero Kills Rich Widow in Botched Burglary

Posted on August 23, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 23, 1963, comics

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Grant Edward Anderson was a war hero, a burglar and a killer.

A paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, Anderson served 19 months overseas, received two Purple Hearts,  and was awarded the Bronze Star for dragging four wounded men to safety through a mine field in Italy.

1000 Block of San Vicente Boulevard
The 1000 block of San Vicente Boulevard via Google’s Street View.

Discharged from the Army in 1945, he received a monthly disability payment because of shrapnel in his right knee. But for some reason, Anderson turned to crime. He was sentenced to prison in 1959 for a burglary in Santa Barbara and released in 1961.

He was arrested later that year for burglarizing the Beverly Hills home of Helen Noga, the manager of singer Johnny Mathis. Police found him loading a stolen car with clothing, jewelry and appliances taken from the home at 806 N. Elm Drive. They found something else: A tourist map of movie stars’ homes, marked in seven places where Anderson planned burglaries.

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Posted in 1963, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Rocket Builder Steals Truckload of Equipment From Caltech

Posted on August 22, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 22, 1953, Comics

Aug. 22, 1953, Hammer Murder
Aug. 22, 1953: Fred Frank Wildemuth kills his wife because he didn’t want her to catch carbon monoxide poisoning from him.

“I, the Jury” in 3-D at the Paramount theaters in Hollywood and downtown.

A brilliant — and unidentified — boy scientist is arrested on charges of stealing  a fortune in scientific equipment from Caltech. The youth — who won an award for a rocket design — led companions through a network of tunnels beneath the campus to gain access to the labs, The Times said.

Dr. Alfred Kinsey will give a lecture at the Greek Theater.

Mrs. Theodore B. Polson, 55, dies after leaping from the fourth floor of a hotel at 206 W. 6th St.

Johnny Green conducts a concert of Gershwin’s music at the Hollywood Bowl with pianist Andre Previn (yes, that Andre Previn) as soloist.

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Posted in 1953, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Music, Suicide | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

LAPD Women Join Marines

Posted on August 21, 2013 by lmharnisch

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Aug. 21, 1943, LAPD Women Join Marines
Aug. 21, 1943: Two women from the LAPD are joining the Marines: Lucy White, 26, who works in the fingerprinting department, and Margaret Davis, 22, of the record bureau.

Judge Benjamin J. Scheinman is leaving the municipal bench to join the service, where he will study military government. Scheinman, 46, is the first local judge to join the service, The Times says. Scheinman, who refused to grant Joan Crawford a divorce from Franchot Tone in 1939 until she appeared in court,  died in 1954 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.

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Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Nightclubs, Stage, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

L.A. French Benevolent Society Celebrates Founding in 1859

Posted on August 20, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 15, 2863, Los Angeles Star
The entire Aug. 15, 1863, issue of the Los Angeles Star, scanned from a copy at the Huntington, is available from USC (in color) or the California Digital Newspaper Collection (black and white).

Aug. 15, 1863: Another installment of the virulently pro-Southern, pro-Confederacy, anti-Lincoln Los Angeles Star. Seen in this context, the Times editorials of Gen. Harrison Gray Otis seem rather tame, I must say.

The French Benevolent Society, which has 150 members,  celebrates its fourth anniversary. Recall that the Hebrew Benevolent Society was founded in 1854.

The city of Los Angeles is soliciting bids for 15,000 feet of wooden pipe.

The Board of Supervisors takes up the matter of jury duty for the grand jury and trial juries.

A Ladies Festival is being held Aug. 24, in two rooms over the stores of Corbitt & Barker and Hellman.

Jurors are named for the murder trial of George F. Morris.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated +++)

Posted on August 19, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 19, 2013, Mystery Photo

And for Monday, a mystery woman…..

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , | 29 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: ‘War Brides’ Promotes Peace

Posted on August 19, 2013 by lmharnisch

War Brides Couple

War Brides Herald

The killing of Austria’s Franz Ferdinand in 1914 helped kick off the Great War, or what we now know as World War I. Brutal fighting led to maimings and killings on a scale never witnessed before. Great Britain and France urged the United States to join them in the conflict, but most of America supported neutrality and peace. Author Marian Craig Wentworth decided to write a play promoting pacifism to such a degree that it would help lead to an end in ever going to war.

Born in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 25, 1871, Wentworth graduated from the University of Minnesota, where she gained understanding regarding injustice around the world. She supported voting rights for women, freedom, and peace and justice issues, writing articles and giving speeches promoting her causes.

ALSO BY MARY MALLORY
Ned Sparks, Hollywood Grouch
John Decker, Painter to the Stars
Mack Sennett and Studio City’s Central Motion Picture District

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Posted in 1916, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, World War I | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

LAPD Spied on Mayor, Attorney General, Detective Says

Posted on August 16, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 16, 1983, Risky Business

Aug. 16, 1983, LAPD Spying

Aug. 16, 1983: Former Times reporter Joel Sappell reports on allegations by Detective Michael J. Rothmiller that the LAPD’s Organized Crime Intelligence Division spied on Mayor Tom Bradley, then-Atty.Gen. John Van de Kamp, and other U.S., state, county and local officials.

In the theaters: “Cujo,” “The Grey Fox,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There 3-D,” “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Trading Places” and “Zelig.”

On TV: “The A Team” “The team lands smack in the middle of a battle between a monstrous motorcycle gang and a small-town sheriff (Repeat).”

Leonard Slatkin conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

Yul Brynner is performing “The King and I” with his wife, Kathy Lee, at the Pantages.

David Bowie’s concert at the Forum is reviewed by Robert Hilburn. It is “the most captivatingly ambitious and warmly uplifting arena rock show here since Bruce Springsteen’s socially conscious appearances in 1981,” Hilburn says.

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Posted in 1983, City Hall, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Music, Stage, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Random Shot — Drawing Downtown Los Angeles

Posted on August 15, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 14, 2013, Mystery Artist

This young woman attracted several observers as she stood on 6th Street just west of Spring — near the Starbucks — on  Wednesday evening to sketch the streetscape. I didn’t want to interrupt her to ask her name. All I know is that she’s good — and left-handed.

Here’s a closer look at her work:

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Posted in 2013, Architecture, Art & Artists, Downtown, Photography, Spring Street | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Hero Stops Runaway L.A. Streetcar

Posted on August 15, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 15, 1943, Comics

Aug. 15, 1943, Streetcar Accident
Aug. 15, 1943: Los Angeles’ long-gone streetcar system has achieved sainthood, but here’s an incident suggesting that in reality, it was less than perfect. (Heresy, I know).

Shura Cherkassky performs at the Greek Theatre.

Hedda Hopper with her version of how Abbott and Costello got together.

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Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Music, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Man Held in Killing of Ex-Marine — Part 2

Posted on August 14, 2013 by lmharnisch

April 14, 1956, Cavanaugh Executed

As strange as the tale of Michael Timothy Cavanaugh had been, the case became even more bizarre once he was arrested. After several days of denying that he knew ex-Marine Ralph Welch, even though he was driving Welch’s car and had Welch’s wallet and ID papers, Cavanaugh agreed to be interrogated under the influence of sodium amytal, often referred to at the time as “truth serum.”

In the days that followed, Cavanaugh gave several conflicting accounts of killing Welch, but the information he provided enabled Albuquerque police to locate Welch’s remains off Route 66. Desert animals had eaten much of the body, which was badly decomposed, making it impossible to determine the cause of death.

People vs. Cavanaugh, April 12, 1955

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Posted in 1953, 1956, Crime and Courts, Homicide | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Jean Renoir, Orson Welles and the Dim Remembrance of Things Past

Posted on August 13, 2013 by lmharnisch

Steve Wasserman, Remembering Orson Welles

Journalists are fond of telling and retelling their favorite war stories. These are raucous tales of daring exploits — usually mixed with strong drink — of great personal heroism, of triumphs on deadline and other various noble achievements, often involving trickery played on the competition or on an obtuse editor. But in truth, these rollicking epics all too often fall prey to faulty memory and the desire (presumably unintentional) to improve a story.

Someone once said of critics that they wander through the battlefield, shooting the survivors. So it is with the historian who turns his lens on a fond recollection told with humor and gusto – but not much accuracy.

A recent example is former Times book editor Steve Wasserman’s foggy reminiscence in the Los Angeles Review of Books on his friendship with Orson Welles and what he describes as The Times’ poor coverage of the death Jean Renoir, who died of coronary occlusion at his home in Benedict Canyon on the afternoon of Feb. 12, 1979.

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Posted in 1979, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Man Held in Killing of Ex-Marine

Posted on August 13, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 8, 1953, Marine's Body Found


On the afternoon of July 23, 1953, Michael Timothy Cavanaugh was drinking beer at Thompson’s Cafe in Chula Vista. Earlier that year, he had himself committed to Patton State Hospital, claiming that he suffered “blackouts” in which he wrote fraudulent checks. On July 12, he left the hospital and returned to Chula Vista, writing a series of fraudulent checks.

Between 5:30 and 6:30 that evening, Cavanaugh went on another binge, calling a cab and stopping at several stores where he bought a watch and cashed or tried to cash bad checks.
At one point he identified himself as a doctor and another point he claimed to be a Navy commander.

While Cavanaugh was gone, Ralph R. Welch, a recently discharged Marine who was living with his wife in Chula Vista, came into Thompson’s. When Cavanaugh returned, the men struck up a conversation and had some beer. Welch apparently said something about his head bothering him and Cavanaugh, again claiming to be a doctor, said “I will fix your head.”

The men left Thompson’s together about 10 p.m. after Welch said he wanted to go home.  He was never seen alive again.

People vs. Cavanaugh, April 12, 1955

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Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition XI (Updated +++)

Posted on August 12, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 12, 2013, Mystery Photo

Here we have a cute tyke with … a newsboy cap!

How to Wear a Hat — Newsboy Cap Edition
How to Wear a Hat — ‘Grapes of Wrath’ Edition
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition I
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition II
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition III
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition IV
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition V
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition VI
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition VII
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition VIII
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition IX
Movieland Mystery Photo — Newsboy Cap Edition X
How to Wear a Newsboy Cap — Marc Chevalier Edition

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Posted in Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , | 28 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Albert Witzel, Early Glamour Photography Pioneer

Posted on August 12, 2013 by lmharnisch

Albert Witzel
Albert Witzel, courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Deadwood, S.D.-born Albert Walter Witzel possessed a dead-on knack for capturing the public’s eye with his vibrant, elegant portrait photographs. Witzel became one of the premier portraitists in the teens and early 1920s, influencing how Hollywood employed glamorous images of movie stars to sell its dreamy wares.

Born in 1879, Witzel and his family moved to Seattle in 1886, where he signed up as a photographer’s apprentice in 1894. Learning quickly, the young man eventually ran the studio before immigrating to Los Angeles, where he opened his studio at 811 S. Hill St. in 1909. His brother Charles helped manage the business.

ALSO BY MARY MALLORY
Ned Sparks, Hollywood Grouch
John Decker, Painter to the Stars
Mack Sennett and Studio City’s Central Motion Picture District

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Posted in Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Photography, Witzel | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Black Dahlia: Still Waiting for Test Results on Soil From George ‘Evil Genius’ Hodel’s Murder HQ

Posted on August 9, 2013 by lmharnisch

Feb. 3, 2013, Black Dahlia Soil Tests

Feb. 3, 2013: “Soil samples were taken and results are expected next week,” according to Christine Pelisek in the Daily Beast.

We’re still waiting.

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Hollywood, LAPD | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Rose Parade Encounter Leads to Killing of Arcadia Woman

Posted on August 9, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 9, 1963, Comics

Aug. 9, 1963, Buddhist Hunger Strike

Aug. 9, 1963: “In Saigon, 400 miles to the south, police geared for trouble as a young, unidentified monk announced plans to burn himself to death in the continuing Buddhist struggle for what they consider their civil rights and religious liberty,” The Times says.

In the theaters: “55 Days at Peking,” “Cleopatra,” “Flipper,”  “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Thrill of It All!”

Born 5 1/2 weeks premature, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the son of President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, dies at Children’s Medical Center in Boston.

Pershing Square, known as a haven for “off-beat characters” and “undesirables” will undergo a $100,000 “beautification program” in which “most of the square’s interior walkways” will be eliminated.

Rancho Road, Arcadia, Calif.
The 1000 block of Rancho Road in Arcadia via Google’s Street View.

On the afternoon of Jan. 9, 1963, Arcadia liquor store owner Jack Doctors, a former LAPD detective, found his wife, Jean, 37, partially undressed on the kitchen floor of their home at 1049 Rancho Road, Arcadia. She had been stabbed 39 times in the neck, chest and left arm with a hunting knife found in the kitchen, and was “criminally attacked,” The Times said.

Dr. Harold Kade of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Jean “put up a terrific struggle for her life,” noting that both hands were slashed from trying to grab the murder weapon.

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Posted in 1963, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Religion, Vietnam | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

L.A. Welcomes Harbor Freeway Extension With Four-Block Traffic Jam

Posted on August 8, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 8, 1953,

Aug. 8, 1953, Liquor Store Owner Kills Robber

Aug. 8, 1953: An extension of the Harbor Freeway carrying traffic into downtown Los Angeles opens — and is jammed immediately. Traffic engineers say the backup was caused by the timing of the signals at 6th Street and Figueroa.

Movie critics don’t like the current crop of 3-D films, the latest opus being “The Stranger Wore a Gun.”

A stunning example of racial stereotyping in the comics

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Benjamin Ward Tims Jr., a 22-year-old Marine from Long Beach Naval Station, thought he would rob a liquor store at 3540 Santa Barbara Ave. (now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).

About 10:30 p.m., while his girlfriend, Sue Ann Cook, 22, waited in the getaway car, Tims entered the store, wearing a brown tweed jacket, yellow T-shirt, white gloves and a straw hat.

Carl Baggett, 23, and his wife, Virginia, 21, who bought the liquor store in January, were watching TV in the rear of the building when Tims entered. Virginia nudged her husband because she thought Tims looked suspicious. They had been robbed of $268 the previous day and were taking extra precautions.

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Posted in 1953, African Americans, Comics, Film, Freeways, Hollywood, LAPD, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Officer Kills Two, Wounds Two in Brawl at Shipyard Workers’ Party

Posted on August 7, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 7, 1943, Zoot Suit!
Aug. 7, 1943: A zoot suit with a drape shape, reet pleat and stuff cuff in the comics!

Aug. 7, 1943, Officer Involved Shooting


This is a story that, as presented in The Times, seems straightforward: A Palos Verdes police officer responding to a rowdy party is attacked and kills two people and wounds two others while defending himself.

But it’s clear that  there’s more to this story than what was reported, at least in The Times. One story notes that extra deputies were on duty at the inquest and said “feeling among the spectators” was “running high.”

What’s clear is that two shipyard workers were dead and two others were in the hospital — along with the police lieutenant who shot them — after a drunken brawl at the Palos Verdes Country Club.

Workers from an unidentified shipyard had rented the club for a party and about 10 p.m., the manager, Ray Roberts, called police “to help preserve order,” when the partiers became “boisterous,” The Times said.

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California Politics: Democratic Candidate for Governor Seeks to Bar Blacks

Posted on August 6, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 1, 1863, Los Angeles Star

The entire Aug. 1, 1863, issue of the Los Angeles Star is available online via the California Digital Newspaper Collection.

 

Aug. 1, 1863, Killing
Buckley shoots Francisco Cruz.

Aug. 1, 1863: The Star publishes the campaign speech of former Gov. John G. Downey (1860-62), the Democratic nominee for governor, calling it “the most important document which has ever emanated from any public man in the state.”

Downey advocates “the welfare of California — the perpetuity of the Federal Union and the preservation of the Constitution with all its guarantees of liberty.”

This is a long campaign speech and I will leave it to Daily Mirror readers whether they care to read the entire address. Here are some nuggets:

“We denounce and unqualifiedly condemn the Emancipation Proclamation of the President of the United States as tending to protract indefinitely civil war, incite servile insurrection and inevitably close the door forever to a restoration of the union of these States.

Aug. 1, 1863, Tomlinson & Co.

“We disapprove of all congressional laws tending to substitute a paper currency in California in place of our own metallic circulating medium.

In other words: “The Constitution as it is and the Union as it was.”

Oh yes. “While duty enjoins us to act with kindness toward those of African descent who are already within our borders, sound judgment teaches that it is impolitic to permit the immigration into our state of a race which must ever remain a separate and inferior caste.”

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Posted in 1863, African Americans, Civil War, Homicide, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on California Politics: Democratic Candidate for Governor Seeks to Bar Blacks

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated +++)

Posted on August 5, 2013 by lmharnisch

Aug. 5, 2013, Mystery Photo
And for Monday, two mystery guests.

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