September 19, 1944: Allies 310 Miles From Berlin!

image

image

September 19, 1944

At a Town Hall luncheon at the Biltmore, RAF Wing Cmdr. Christopher Currant tells the audience that what we now know as the V-2 rocket is the greatest argument against isolationism.

“It can be dropped on New York without any difficulty. It is merely a matter of fuel,” he says.

Currant also says that the morale of German fliers is extremely low and added: “Both American and British fliers were disappointed when during the invasion of France they found no air resistance. We had expected the greatest air battle of all times.”

Times reporter and columnist Gene Sherman files a first-person report from Palau and describes fierce fighting against the Japanese.

“The waves lap at a naked Marine whose body was burned yesterday in a shell explosion. He lies with his arms upraised. Another Marine kneels with bowed head in prayer at an ammunition box.”

Opening today: “Kismet” at the Egyptian, Fox Ritz and Los Angeles theaters.

Continue reading

Posted in 1944, Aviation, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on September 19, 1944: Allies 310 Miles From Berlin!

September 19, 1907: Deadlier Than Male

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Sept. 19, 1907
Los Angeles

“Hidden somewhere in Los Angeles is a daredevil Spanish woman who should be standing with the Mexican revolutionaries when they are arraigned here in the United States Court,” The Times says.

“Letters recently confiscated show that she was the most daring and reckless anarchist of all the band. Her name is Maria Talivera. She is said to be a beautiful and attractive woman. Her friends and even her husband regarded her as a quiet housewife, intent on cooking frijoles. But in her fry pans she was seeing men fighting, hearing in the sizzle of the grease the clash of arms, the pound of horses’ feet and the din and commotion of a nation’s government overthrown.”

Continue reading

Posted in 1907, Crime and Courts, LAPD | Tagged , , | Comments Off on September 19, 1907: Deadlier Than Male

September 18, 1947: Navajo Teenagers Arrive at Sherman Institute

L.A. Times, 1947


Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

RIVERSIDE—A contingent of 369 Navajo Indian boys and girls from New Mexico and Arizona has arrived at Riverside’s famed Sherman Institute.

Many of the youngsters, who range in age from 10 to 18, will be introduced to formal schooling for the first time, but others are returning for the second year of the Navajo educational program.

Last year, emphasis was principally on trade schooling, but the younger Navajos, many of them unable to speak English, were brought here for basic schooling.

Continue reading

Posted in 1947, Education | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on September 18, 1947: Navajo Teenagers Arrive at Sherman Institute

September 18, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Everyone seems to be trying to settle on what Mr. K. “should really see” when he gets to L.A. — ranging from beatnik joints to supermarkets to the interchange and freeway traffic, Matt Weinstock says.

Continue reading

Posted in Columnists, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on September 18, 1959: Matt Weinstock

September 18, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

September 18, 1959: “The only trouble with a woman who ‘wants a man’ is that everybody knows it,” Dear Abby says.
Paul Coates writes of Richard Swanson’s death: “At SC, for example, there are 32 fraternities. I’m told, on excellent authority, that at least 90% make hazing an annual practice. There’s a university regulation forbidding it. Now, there’s even a state law against it. Yet the students make no secret of their ceremonies. I’m not so naive as to believe that the school administrators didn’t know what was going on. They did know. But, in spite of a growing list of pointless deaths which result from the practice, they did nothing to stop it.”

Continue reading

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on September 18, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

1944 in Print — Life Magazine, Sept. 18, 1944

Sept. 18, 1944, Thomas E. Dewey

September 18, 1944

After spending Labor Day in Pawling, Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey drove to New York for conferences with John Foster Dulles, his adviser on foreign affairs, and Herbert Brownell, Republican National Committee chairman. The next day, on an 11-car special train, accompanied by 65 reporters, he started on his 6,700-mile campaign trip to the Pacific coast. In Philadelphia, he delivered his opening campaign speech.

Ever wonder what would happen of Salvador Dali was a commercial artist?

Life features Ed Wynn’s whimsical “inventions.”

And after the war, get ready for television.

Scanned by Google Books.
Continue reading

Posted in 1944, Film, Hollywood, Television, World War II | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 1944 in Print — Life Magazine, Sept. 18, 1944

1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 18, 1944

Sept. 18, 1944, Comics
September 18, 1944

Walter Winchell and Danton Walker refer to the Aug. 5 fight between Jon Hall and Tommy Dorsey in the so-called Battle of the Balcony at Dorsey’s apartment on the Sunset Strip.

Walter Winchell says: Norma Shearer is trying to mend the L.B. Mayers’ split. Jack Marshall suggests a new theme song for slugger Tommy Dorsey: “Would You Like to Swing on a Star?”

Danton Walker says: The Xavier Cugat divorce papers were filed a month ago and the story leaked out only accidentally.

The Crown Prince of Nigeria has arranged with Barney Josephson, owner of the two Cafe Society nightclubs (Uptown and Downtown), to have prominent Negro talent visit his country after the war.

This week, Universal Pictures sent out beautiful invitations for the premiere of “San Diego, I Love You,” the covers of which bore pictures of Jon Hall fighting over a beautiful gal.

Louella Parsons says: I felt sure it would be only a question of time before the story of Mother Cabrini, who devoted her life to underprivileged children, would reach the screen.

VIRGO: Profits, returns from investments, collections no prominent but tasks will done will bring just reward in due time. Be guided by importance and urgency of duties.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.

Continue reading

Posted in 1944, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Horoscope | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 18, 1944

September 18, 1933: Bandit Killed, LAPD Officers Wounded in Burlesque Theater Shootout

Sept. 18, 1933, Comics

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

September 18, 1933: Jack Keating, 30, and John Melvin Early, 35, had a plan to rob the Girlesque Theater at 510 S. Main St., but when the shooting was over, Keating was dead and Early and two men who helped plan the robbery were in jail.

The robbery began shortly after the midnight show, when Keating and Early drew guns and forced  Girlesque employees Robert Winslow and his wife, Mildred, to escort them to the theater office, where manager John R. Ward and C.C. Hurst were present.

Another employee, Edward Sweeney, seeing the Winslows with two strangers, sensed that something was wrong, slipped out of the theater through a side door and found Officers H.W. Tash and S.D. Moore at 5th Street and Main.

In the meantime, Ward told the gunmen: “If this is a holdup, here is all the money I have,” throwing two $5 bills and 11 $1 bills ($377.35 USD 2013) on the floor, The Times said.

The officers arrived at the theater as Early and Keating were tying up the victims with wire, and the robbers began shooting. The police killed Keating, but were badly wounded by  Early, who surrendered when he ran out of bullets.

Continue reading

Posted in 1933, Art & Artists, Comics, Downtown, Hollywood, LAPD, Main Street, Theaters | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on September 18, 1933: Bandit Killed, LAPD Officers Wounded in Burlesque Theater Shootout

September 17, 1959: Matt Weinstock

September 17, 1959: A man with a moving and storage company has thoughts about the ratio of families who are moving into Los Angeles with those who are moving out. The city has reached the saturation point, he tells Matt Weinstock.

Posted in Columnists, Dodgers, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off on September 17, 1959: Matt Weinstock

September 17, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

September 17, 1959: Paul Coates looks at the case of Caryl Chessman, scheduled to be executed in the gas chamber. A letter writer asks Dear Abby if it's appropriate to ask restaurants for leftovers in a doggy bag.

Posted in #courts, Caryl Chessman, Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off on September 17, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 17, 1944

Sept. 17, 1944, Bloomer Girl

September 17, 1944

Bestsellers: “Green Dolphin Street,” “Leave Her to Heaven,” “History of Rome Hanks,” “Strange Fruit,” “I Never Left Home,” “The Time for Decision,” “Yankee From Olympus,” “Anna and the King of Siam” and “Invasion!”

Louella Parsons says: All her life Vivian Blaine will be grateful to Victoria Elizabeth James and Phyllis Faye Harris for starring parts, for if these young ladies hadn’t elected to be born Vivian would still be just one of the bevy of pretty girls on the 20th lot.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
Continue reading

Posted in 1944, Books and Authors, Columnists, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 17, 1944

September 17:1907: L.A. Celebrates Mexican Independence Day


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

September 17, 1907
Los Angeles

Mexican Independence Day was celebrated in a grand program sponsored by the Club Porfiro Diaz of Los Angeles at Turner Hall, 325 S. Main (demolished 1951), which was decorated with American and Mexican flags.

Continue reading

Posted in 1907, Music | Tagged , , | Comments Off on September 17:1907: L.A. Celebrates Mexican Independence Day

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Olvera Street, Salute to Los Angeles’ Spanish Past

Avila Adobe
A postcard of the Avila Adobe, listed on EBay for $1.89.



“A people that has lost touch with its historical past, forgotten its traditions and wasted its heritage is as unfortunate as a man who has lost his memory. Without knowledge of the past, both the present and the future are meaningless.”

Harry Chandler, Olvera Street News, December 1933

Note: This is an encore post from 2019.

Christine Sterling Long before Los Angeles or Hollywood possessed any historic preservation organizations fighting to save architectural, cultural or historically significant buildings, Los Angeles Times Editor and Publisher Harry S. Chandler astutely summed up what preservation is all about: saving structures that help define a sense of identity and place, showing where we as a society and people come from.

Throughout its history, the city has often turned a blind eye to its past, demolishing buildings reflecting the daily lives of both ordinary and powerful citizens trying to make an impact on their own time and place. These sites and buildings often reveal the history of less powerful citizens of the time, those of other races, cultures, and orientations that are often written out of historical texts.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,”  is now on sale.

Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Olvera Street, Salute to Los Angeles’ Spanish Past

George Hodel: Ask Me Anything, September 2025

Here’s Boxie and I with this month’s “Ask Me Anything” on George Hodel.

In this session, I discussed:

Steve Hodel’s forthcoming update in his Black Dahlia Avenger franchise.

I also discussed:

Continue reading

Posted in Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on George Hodel: Ask Me Anything, September 2025

September 16, 1947: Stanley Beltz, Colorful Lockheed Test Pilot

L.A. Times, 1947

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Stanley BeltzLow flying charges have been filed by the Civil Aeronautics Administration against Stanley Beltz, Lockheed test pilot, who reportedly took a four-engined Constellation down to 200 feet or less over a Playa Del Rey residential district last Friday.

The complaint, turned over to the CAA, declares Beltz violated minimum altitudes (1,000 feet), endangering lives and property.

Beltz denied being as low as householders reported. He explained he descended toward the coast to test a radio altimeter offshore.

This little brief appears to be nothing more than yet another of the many Times stories about pilots buzzing Los Angeles after the war, which seems to have occurred nearly every day. But in fact it leads to heartache and death.

Stanley A. Beltz was a prominent test pilot and after joining Lockheed in 1943 flew almost every type of plane the company made, except the F-90 and F-104 Starfighter. He piloted the first test flight of the C-130 transport from Burbank to Edwards Air Force Base in 1954.

Continue reading

Posted in 1947, Aviation, Crime and Courts, Suicide | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on September 16, 1947: Stanley Beltz, Colorful Lockheed Test Pilot

1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 16, 1944

Sept. 16, 1944, Comics

September 16, 1944

Danton Walker says: Frank Sinatra’s father has just been made chief of the Fire Department of Hoboken, N.J., in case you care.

Louella Parsons says: A scout in New York telegraphed that Sidney Kingsley, the playwright, has just signed a $100,000 deal with MGM to write an original. Kingsley is just out of the Army on a medical discharge and the Hollywood deal will be the first thing he has done since he donned uniform. With such plays as “Dead End,” “Men in White” and “The Patriots,” which were hits on Broadway, naturally he was in immediate demand.

Lucille Ball has gone to Las Vegas, but not for a hurried divorce as reported. She’ll get her freedom right here … The love scene Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neill put on at the Vine Street Derby had many fascinated onlookers … Greta Garbo, lunching at a Sunset Boulevard restaurant with Haylord Hauser, was absolutely unrecognized. She wore last year’s straw hat and a raincoat … Cheryl Crane paid her mother, Lana Turner, a visit on the set and for the first time Lana had to take a back seat. Her daughter stole the thunder.

VIRGO: Keen intuition and ingeniousness — both inborn in Virgo — can lead you successfully. In familiar matters, work, other activities for which you are trained you can especially advance.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
Continue reading

Posted in 1944, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on 1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 16, 1944

September 16, 1907: Occidental Upperclassmen Enforce Fashion Law — No Cords for Freshmen!


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Sept. 16, 1907
Los Angeles

Occidental’s fall semester has gotten underway with a boisterous gathering in the Hall of Letters. The first order of business was to punish underclassmen who dared to wear corduroy trousers, a right restricted to the upper classes. “Offending students were unceremoniously shorn of the ‘extreme pegs,’ ” The Times said. “ In the roughhouse, Dean Ward was among those who went to the floor.”

Continue reading

Posted in 1907, Education, Fashion | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on September 16, 1907: Occidental Upperclassmen Enforce Fashion Law — No Cords for Freshmen!

September 15, 1947: On Rosh Hashanah, a Call to Mobilize for Peace


Sept. 7, 1896, New Temple

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Sept. 15, 1946, Rosh Hashana

The ram’s horn, once a trumpet of war but now a symbol of faith, sounded at sundown yesterday in Los Angeles synagogues to mark the dawn of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana.

In Temple Emanuel, Beverly Hills, Rabbi Ernest Trattner told the congregation that “New beginnings come, not in new seasons, but in new attitudes. Solutions of life’s problems come, not in the passing of time, but in self-discipline and self-dedication. Let us start the year with God and keep step with Him all the year and peace and power and gladness shall be ours.”

Continue reading

Posted in 1947, Architecture, Downtown, Religion | Tagged , , | Comments Off on September 15, 1947: On Rosh Hashanah, a Call to Mobilize for Peace

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Main title: Lettering over artwork of a ship.

This week’s mystery movie was the 1939 Warner Bros. film Waterfront, with Gloria Dickson, Dennis Morgan, Marie Wilson, Larry Williams, Sheila Bromley, Larry Williams, Aldrich Bowker, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Arthur Gardner and George Lloyd. Continue reading

Posted in 1939, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , | 26 Comments

September 14, 1947: How Many HR Violations Can You Spot in One Ad?

L.A. Times, 1947, comics
Sept. 14, 1947: Let’s see. White couples or single women wanted. Age limit 55 years.

No, we don’t do this anymore.

Sept. 14, 1947, White Couples Wanted

Posted in 1947, Art & Artists, Comics, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on September 14, 1947: How Many HR Violations Can You Spot in One Ad?