Eve Golden / Queen of the Dead: Ada Jones

Posted on October 16, 2012 by lmharnisch
Ada Jones Ada  Jones
1873 – 1922

 

You youngsters can have your Ladies Gaga and Pinks and Katy Perrys. Give me the great Ada Jones. Ada was the first—and for ten years, the only—female superstar of the early record industry.

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Posted in Eve Golden, Hollywood, Music, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on October 15, 2012 by lmharnisch

Oct. 15, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s today’s mystery photo! Who is the mystery woman and what is the mystery film?

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , | 25 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Little Brown Church in the Valley

Posted on October 15, 2012 by lmharnisch

Yates-Ralston Wedding
Photo: Republic Studios President Herbert Yates marries Vera Hruba Ralston in 1952. Courtesy of Mary Mallory.

Originally ranch land that helped support the city of Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley sometimes seemed slower and a tad more old fashioned than the big city that soon subsumed it. Life revolved around work, family, and the church. With the construction of the Mack Sennett Studios in North Hollywood in 1927, First National Studios in Burbank in 1926, and finally Walt Disney Studios in Burbank in 1938, population exploded. Many churches were built to keep up with growing congregations, but with many plants establishing work shifts around the clock, those needing spiritual sustenance at odd hours seemed left out.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Religion, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Found on EBay – 1880 History of Los Angeles County

Posted on October 14, 2012 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles County History, 1880

A copy of the 1959 reprint of the 1880 “History of Los Angeles County” has been listed on EBay.

The book was compiled over five months from newspapers, books, magazines public records and interviews, producing “three large grain sacks” filled “with penciled slips of brown paper” then written over 3 1/2 months. Historian W.W. Robinson noted in his introduction to the `1959 preface “this haphazard, hell-for-leather method … is not the way to produce a well-balanced history. The result … is a compendium of local historical material to be used gratefully but with discretion.”

The book also includes illustrations that have been frequently reproduced and will be instantly familiar to readers.

This book is listed as Buy It Now for $59.99 (or make offer).

Posted in 1880, Books and Authors, Found on EBay, History | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Found on EBay – 1880 History of Los Angeles County

Found on EBay – 1910 Aviation Meet

Posted on October 12, 2012 by lmharnisch

1910_aviation_meet_cc_pierce

This postcard of the 1910 Aviation Meet – showing a photograph by C.C. Pierce — has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $19.99. Notice that even though airplanes received most of the attention, gas balloons also took part in the meet.

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Posted in 1910, Aviation, Found on EBay, Photography | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo – Cats Eye Glasses Edition [Updated]

Posted on October 12, 2012 by lmharnisch

Oct. 12, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s another photo from the amazing collection of Steven Bibb! Love those glasses!

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

Death Rolls the Dice in Friends’ Fatal Craps Game

Posted on October 12, 2012 by lmharnisch

Forbidden Love!

Oct. 12, 1942: Walter Miller, a 31-year-old lumberyard foreman, and his friend Eddie “Red” Phillips, a 32-year-old mechanic, were shooting dice in the living room of Phillips’ home, 1442 E. 59th St., when they began arguing. Miller was stabbed during the argument and died at Maywood Hospital.

Police said Miller hit Phillips on the chin, yelled “Drop that!” and collapsed.

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Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Aboard the Shuttle Challenger, a Landmark in Women’s History

Posted on October 11, 2012 by lmharnisch

image

Oct. 11, 1984: Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, aboard the shuttle Challenger, becomes the first American woman to take a space walk. Sullivan was involved in an experiment to show that it was possible to refuel satellites in space, even if the satellites weren’t intended for in-flight refueling.

Investigators using search dogs go through the burned-out remains of the Ole’s home improvement store in South Pasadena looking for victims of what was eventually determined to be arson. Glendale Fire Capt. John Leonard Orr was convicted in the fatal fire and was sentenced to life in prison. The store was rebuilt and is now an OSH.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Buster Keaton’s ‘The Italian Villa’

Posted on October 10, 2012 by lmharnisch

buster_keaton_home
Buster Keaton seemed to have it all in the mid-1920s. His career was riding high, as the public loved his film comedies, making him one of America’s top film personalities. He had a beautiful wife, Natalie Talmadge, and two lovely boys, though the public didn’t know that behind the scenes, the marriage was shaky. All he needed was a grand house to complete the image of the successful gentleman.

The Keatons first built a nice though average size home that Natalie considered too small for the family and staff once completed. After selling it off, Buster began planning an elaborate estate for his wife, one to rival that of her more successful sisters Norma and  Constance, as well as top stars Harold Lloyd and Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.

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Posted in 1926, Architecture, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | 5 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on October 9, 2012 by lmharnisch

Oct. 9, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s another mystery photo from the collection of Steven Bibb!

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

Eve Golden / Queen of the Dead: Jack Buchanan

Posted on October 9, 2012 by lmharnisch

jack buchanan

 Jack Buchanan

1891 – 1956

Jack Buchanan was Fred Astaire before Fred Astaire was Fred Astaire. Jack was tall, handsome, a great “make it look easy” song and dance man, and, as his friend and frequent costar Bea Lillie noted, no one wore white tie and tails like Jack. Today, he’s mainly remembered as the hammy, aging costar of Fred Astaire in The Band Wagon (and a damn good performance, too). But looking at the 62-year-old hoofing “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan” doesn’t really show you the gorgeous matinee idol of the 1910s and ’20s.

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Movieland Mystery Photo – How to Wear a Hat Edition

Posted on October 8, 2012 by lmharnisch

Oct. 8, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s another photo from the amazing collection of Steven Bibb!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Erich von Stroheim’s ‘Paprika’

Posted on October 8, 2012 by lmharnisch

paprika
A copy of Erich von Stroheim’s “Paprika” inscribed to Hugo Ballin has been listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $1,250.

Famed director/actor Erich von Stroheim faced financial disaster in the mid-1930s. After directing such visual powerhouses as “Foolish Wives,” “Greed,” “The Merry Widow,” “The Wedding March,” and “Queen Kelly” in the 1920s, as well as others, and sometimes stealing films in which he co-starred, the Austrian auteur couldn’t land a job. Fox had savagely re-cut and remade his 1932 film “Walking Down Broadway” and changed the title to “Hello, Sister!” Directing opportunities vanished. Von Stroheim found acting roles in low-budget/poverty row films, but found himself frozen out of big budget studio films.

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Posted in 1935, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on October 5, 2012 by lmharnisch

Oct. 5, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s another mystery fellow – with a bow tie! Courtesy of Steven Bibb

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , | 41 Comments

Highway Patrol Day: 10-4!

Posted on October 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

Highway Patrol

Here’s a salute to one of my favorite childhood TV shows. Remember: “Leave your blood at the blood bank, not on the road. For ‘Highway Patrol,’ this is Broderick Crawford.”

Posted in Television | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on October 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

image

I thought it would be fun to have a little change of pace from Steve’s collection. Enjoy!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , | 27 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on October 3, 2012 by lmharnisch

2012_1003_mystery_photo

Here’s another mystery photo from the collection of Steven Bibb!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on October 2, 2012 by lmharnisch

Oct. 2, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s another mystery photo from the collection of Steven Bibb!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

Victor Segno: Success Wave!

Posted on October 2, 2012 by lmharnisch

victor_segnoC
Prof. A. Victor Segno and a success wave (artist’s concept).

My latest column for The Times deals with my favorite L.A. con man, Prof. A Victor Segno.

Posted in Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, History | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Eve Golden / Queen of the Dead: Valaida Snow

Posted on October 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Valaida Snow

Valaida Snow

1904 – 1956

I am a huge Bix Beiderbecke fan; I prefer him to Louis Armstrong, and as far as I’m concerned, jazz died with Bix in 1931. But a close second to Bix in my heart is the great, unjustly forgotten Valaida Snow, the triple-threat singer, dancer and trumpet player known somewhat condescendingly as “Little Louis.” Unlike her fellow black songstresses Lena Horne, Ethel Waters and Josephine Baker, Valaida died pretty much forgotten, and it’s only thanks to her rerelease on CD (as well as YouTube) and a 2007 biography by Mark Miller that she’s at all known. Valaida never hit it big on Broadway or in revues, and her only movies were tiny cameos in Take It From Me (a 1937 B-film) and Pièges (a 1939 French film)—as well as a few Soundies in 1946, when she was past her prime.

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Posted in African Americans, Eve Golden, Film, Found on EBay, Hollywood, Music, Queen of the Dead | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments