Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 14, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 14, 2012, Mystery Photo

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

Our mystery guest is a stumper. I’ll leave him up another day to give the stragglers a chance.

Update: This is Deems Taylor, the music critic and narrator of “Fantasia.”

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on May 14, 2012 by lmharnisch

Horse-drawn hearse

This photo of a horse-drawn hearse has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $250.

Queen of the Dead – dateline May 14, 2012

•   One thing that none of the obits of Vidal Sassoon (who died at 84 on May 9) mentioned is that those severe 1960s geometric haircuts he pioneered? Looked good on almost no one. Unless you had perfect little Mia Farrow/Twiggy bone structure, those cuts made you look like Mr. Ed in unconvincing drag. Like that 1920s Dutch-boy bob popularized by Clara Bow and Colleen Moore—“ooh, doesn’t that look great?” one thinks. Till one sees “woman on the street” snapshots from the 1920s and you realize, “ohhhh .  . . not so much, on real people.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Eve Golden, Fashion, Film, Found on EBay, Hollywood, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo

Posted on May 12, 2012 by lmharnisch

Movieland Mystery Photo

Too easy? Well, it is Saturday….

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 10, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 10, 2012, Mystery Photo

And for Thursday, we have a fun-loving bunch of mystery guests!

Update: This is Lila Leeds being pawed by a bunch of newsmen in a gag photo for the Los Angeles Press Club. Please congratulate Steven Bibb for identifying her. The fellow on the right is the unfortunate Roby Heard, who was beaten to death with a hammer in 1960. The upskirt fellow is Nils Ljunquist, with, from left, Clark Roberts, Heber Smith, Larry Miller and Les Wagner.

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

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 9, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 9, 2012, Mystery Photo

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

Update: This is Doris Nolan. Please congratulate Mike Hawks (first) and Mary Mallory (second) for identifying her!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Battle of the Coral Sea, 1942

Posted on May 9, 2012 by lmharnisch

image
May 9, 1942, Comics
May 9, 1942: Allied forces fight the first what would be six major aircraft carrier battles with the Japanese, the next being the Battle of Midway.

On the jump, a war map by Times artist Charles Owens, whom you may remember from “Nuestro Pueblo,” a wonderful book of drawings of old Los Angeles, with text by Joe Seewerker. If you have never seen “Nuestro Pueblo,” it’s really worth getting a copy.

Also on the jump, The Times reports the death of Charlie Whitehead, chief nurse at the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital.

In the early 20th century, the LAPD operated the trauma hospital at 1st and Hill next to the Central Police Station  (which is why you will see references to a police surgeon). This was replaced by the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital.

The obituary notes that Whitehead helped treat victims of the 1910 bombing of The Times Building at 1st and Broadway.

The Aztec, 251 S. Main has French Burlesque with the “sex-sational” double bill “Virgin Bride” and “School for Husbands.”

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Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, LAPD, Obituaries, Stage, World War II | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Battle of the Coral Sea, 1942

Miles Corwin – ‘Midnight Alley’

Posted on May 8, 2012 by lmharnisch

"Midnight Alley"

The Daily Mirror stopped by Vroman’s in Pasadena on Sunday to hear our old friend and former Times colleague Miles Corwin discuss his latest book, “Midnight Alley.”

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Posted in Books and Authors, LAPD | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 7, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 7, 2012, Mystery Photo

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

Update: This is Cyril Cusack. Please congratulate Don Danard (first), Mike Hawks (second) and Megan Lee and Thom (third) for identifying him.

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

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on May 7, 2012 by lmharnisch

hearse_cadillac_1968

A 1968 Cadillac hearse attributed by the vendor to Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold has been listed on EBay.

Queen of the Dead – dateline May 7, 2012

•  Two fashion models have left us. Lee Pepper Eliott, 86, died on April 26—she was a Miss New York runner-up in 1945, and modeled for the Richard Hudnut and Elizabeth Arden salons; she was also married to two radio comics: first Raymond Knight, then Bob Elliott (Chris Elliott is one of her children). “To the Queen!” reads her family’s obit for her. “Her warm smile and razor-sharp sense of humor will be dearly missed.” 1960s model Yvonne Presser (who died on April 20) is not telling us her age. But she modeled for Norman Norell, in “‘Boy Style’ haircut and ‘Von  Dongen’ eye makeup,” and appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country and other glossy mags, till she retired in 1970.

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Posted in Books and Authors, Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Times Wins Pulitzer for Public Service

Posted on May 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 5, 1942, Comics

May 5, 1942, Times Wins Pulitzer

May 5, 1942: The Times wins a Pulitzer Prize for public service. The prize was awarded after The Times fought contempt of court charges for publishing editorials on pending cases.

The dispute began in 1938 when a group from the Los Angeles bar association went before a Superior Court judge asking that The Times be held in contempt for publishing the editorials in 1937-1938. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld The Times’ right to publish the editorials “and reaffirmed the doctrine of freedom of the press,” The Times said.

The editorials were:

Dec. 21, 1937, on the conviction of 22 in a sit-down strike at the Douglas plant.

Feb, 13, 1938,supporting a guilty verdict in the manslaughter trial of Paul Wright.

April 14, 1938,on the conviction of Helen Werner for soliciting a bribe.

April 16, 1938,on the legal fight between Jackie Coogan and his mother over his earnings as a child actor.

May 5, 1938,opposing probation for two Teamsters members convicted of assaulting nonunion truck drivers.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 4, 2012, Mystery Photo

For Friday, we have another photo from the amazing collection of Steven Bibb!

Please congratulate Xavier for identifying Patricia Knight!

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

For Mother’s Day – The Victory Bra

Posted on May 3, 2012 by lmharnisch

Victory Bra

May 3, 1942: No, really. There was such a thing.

Posted in 1942, Fashion, World War II | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Snake Killer Dies on Gallows

Posted on May 2, 2012 by lmharnisch

May 2, 1942, Comics

May 2, 1942, Rattlesnake James

May 2, 1942: Major Raymond Lisenba, better known as Robert S. “Rattlesnake” James, becomes the 214th and last person to be executed by hanging in California. James was hanged because the murder of his wife occurred in 1935, before the introduction of the gas chamber in 1937.

James tried to kill his wife by binding her and putting her leg into a box containing two rattlesnakes. Although she was bitten, the venom wasn’t fatal — or at least hadn’t taken effect, so James drowned her in a bathtub and placed her body face-down in a backyard fish pond. (And yes, drowning in the backyard pond makes me think of “Chinatown.”)

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Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Homicide, World War II | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on May 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Movieland Mystery Photo

And here’s a mysterious chap…..

[Update: This this is Chester Morris in “After Midnight With Boston Blackie.” Please congratulate Bronson Bias (1), Don Danard (2), Mike Hawks (3), Kevin King (4), Rick Scott (5) and Mary Mallory (6) for identifying him.

Here’s my real reason for running the pictures:  Most of the Boston Blackie films were done on a sound stage or a back lot, but  “After Midnight With Boston Blackie” has a few street scenes during a car chase. (Ambulances, police cars and other official conveyances are never safe when Boston Blackie is around).  I don’t recognize any of them (it is “After Midnight”) but maybe someone will.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Black Dahlia Exhibit – Leslie Dillon

Posted on May 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Leslie Dillon

This is one of the 1949 photos of Leslie Dillon displayed in the Black Dahlia exhibit at the Los Angeles Police Historical Society.

In case you don’t recall, Dillon is the fellow who contacted LAPD psychiatrist J. Paul DeRiver after reading about the Black Dahlia case in a pulp crime magazine. DeRiver came to believe that Dillon was the killer and got Dillon to come for a rendezvous in Las Vegas under the pretext of taking a job as his personal secretary. DeRiver and the gangster squad began a separate – and secret – investigation, bypassing lead homicide detectives Harry Hansen and Finis Brown.

Oh, did it not end well.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1949, Black Dahlia, Cold Cases, LAPD, Museums | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Found on EBay – Mullen and Bluett

Posted on April 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

Mullen and Bluett, Hawaiian Outfit

mullen_bluett_hawaiian_outfit_label When vintage fashion collides with Tiki-mania, look what happens: This vintage Hawaiian outfit from Mullen and Bluett, listed on EBay with bids starting at $99.99.

Posted in Fashion, Found on EBay | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on April 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

April 30, 2012, Mystery Photo

Here’s today’s mystery guest, courtesy of Steven Bibb!

[Update: This is Mickey Shaughnessy in “Pocketful of Miracles.” Please congratulate Dewey Webb (first), Pamela Porter (second), Bronson Bias (third), Michael Ryerson, Jenny M., Bill Krieger, Mike Hawks, Gary Martin, Barbara Klein, Herb Nichols, Roget-L.A., L.C. and Rick Scott for identifying him. ] 

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

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on April 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

hearse_1990_cadillac

A 1990 Cadillac hearse listed on EBay at $6,995.

Queen of the Dead – dateline April 30, 2012

•  Oh, dear. You know those Passion Plays—the religious kind, not the porno kind? Well, Brazilian actor Tiago Klimeck, 27, was playing Judas, and you know that scene where he hangs himself? You see what’s coming, don’t you . . . During a Good Friday outdoor performance in Sao Paulo, his safety harness slipped, and photos show fellow cast members draping him in a shroud and carrying on with the show, not realizing the poor guy wasn’t breathing (which, I hope, means he was not in pain!). He died on April 22, after 17 days in the hospital on life support.

Continue reading →

Posted in Eve Golden, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead, Religion | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

April 29, 1992

Posted on April 28, 2012 by lmharnisch

crowd is trying to break windows on 3rd floor… we can hear rocks hit…
(HARNISCH, 4/29/92 21:00)

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

On Assignment

Posted on April 27, 2012 by lmharnisch

I’m on assignment. It’s fun, but there are only so many hours in the day.

–Larry

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments