‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 26

"Full Service" cover

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge.

We have moved on, ever so slightly, to the further exploits of Scotty Bowers in 1946. In this portion of the book, he’s discussing life in Los Angeles.

Fact-Checking “Full Service”: 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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25

 

Continue reading

Posted in 1946, Another Good Story Ruined, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 25 [Updated]

"Full Service" cover

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge.

Several regular readers have asked whether I have given up on “Full Service.” The answer is no. I’ve been busy with my job at The Times, writing an occasional column (shout out to Ed Fuentes) and working on “Titanic. 100 Years Later,” an e-book that The Times has released.

In addition, the Daily Mirror HQ is undergoing renovations. The painters are here and everything is shrouded in plastic. Anyone who has done home repairs knows what I’m talking about.

But let’s plunge ahead to Page 7 — and according to my calculations, at the present rate, it will take more than 1,000 posts to finish the book. Hm. Should I rethink this?

Fact-Checking “Full Service”: 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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24

Continue reading

Posted in 1946, Another Good Story Ruined, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated ++]

April 18, 2012, Mystery Photo

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

[Update: This is Henry Armetta with John Garfield in “Dust Be My Destiny.”]

Just about everybody recognized one or both of our mystery guests (although Herb Nicholas threw me a curve by using the birth name of the chap on the left – went right past me). Bob Duncan was first, followed by Dewey Webb, Michael Ryerson, RJ, Richard Heft, Benito (half credit). Jenny M, Mike Hawks, William Stansel (half credit), Sarah (half credit), Mary Mallory, Gregory Moore (half credit), Gary Martin (half credit), Don Danard, Bob Hansen, (half credit) and Rick Scott.

Continue reading

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 32 Comments

Doolittle Raiders Bomb Tokyo

April 18 1942, Tokyo Bombed

April 18, 1942, Comics
April 18, 1942:  The Doolittle Raiders, flying from the carrier Hornet, bomb Tokyo. According to DoolittleRaider.com, the  five surviving crew members are scheduled to attend the 70th reunion, which is being held through April 20 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Tom Treanor  complains that all branches of the Los Angeles Public Library are closing at 6 p.m. because of fears of a blackout. “Miss Althea Warren, public librarian, says that the library board has already been asked to reconsider the 6 o’clock closing order,” Treanor says.

Gov. Olson raises concerns about companies that hire women when there are so many unemployed men. Bonus fact: It is illegal in California for women to work between midnight and 6 a.m.

Streetcar motorman T.D. Wilson gets into a dispute with a group of African Americans boarding a car at Jefferson Street and Grand Avenue. Some of them tried to board for free and a fight broke out when Wilson asked them to pay. The money changer was torn from Wilson’s belt, spilling coins on the floor of the car, and “a small riot ensued,” The Times said.

Continue reading

Posted in 1942, African Americans, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Labor, Streetcars, Tom Treanor | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

April 16, 2012, Mystery Photo

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

Update: This is Gila Golan from “Three on a Couch” and she also appeared in one of the favorite movies at the Daily Mirror HQ, “The Valley of Gwangi.”  Please congratulate Dewey Webb, Benito, Mike Hawks, Rotter, David Franklin and William Stansel for identifying her. Gwangi! Gwangi!

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Internment of Japanese Farmers Causes Food Shortage

April 16, 1942

April 16, 1942, Japanese Farmers

April 16, 1942: If you send all the Japanese farmers to internment camps, there’s no one to grow strawberries, tomatoes, carrots, green peas and onions. Oops.

Charlotte LeNordtestifies that she killed her foster mother Celeste Frank — who read palms as Madame Lorraine — by mistake, assuming that the gun wasn’t entirely loaded.

Which is to say that she took most, but not all, of the cartridges out of the cylinder before pointing the gun at Frank and pulling the trigger as she said “bang.”

LeNord testified that she thought the cylinder was on an empty chamber, but the old revolver was defective and the cylinder rotated freely. The killing was ruled accidental.

“Joan of Paris” opens at the Carthay Circle.

Victor Mature as Rudolph Valentino? Maybe, says Edwin Schallert. At least Pola Negri visited Mature on the set of “Footlight Serenade,” which may have special significance.

Continue reading

Posted in 1942, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Dodge Caravan Hearse
A 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan hearse, listed on EBay at $27,970.


Queen of the Dead – dateline April 16, 2012

•  Australia’s Silver Duchess has died: 92-year-old fashion editor, writer and socialite Sheila Scotter died on April 6. The founder of Vogue Living and former editor of Vogue Australia was “opinionated, fastidious, fiercely loyal to her friends, she terrified and charmed in equal measure, tossing in the occasional social grenade to keep things frisky,” says the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2009, Scotter told Vogue Australia, “Anyone can buy fashion, but you cannot buy style. You either have it or not.” She always championed Aussie designers, and noted that “A golden rule of mine was that if anyone from my staff was visiting a Condé Nast office, they must be wearing Australian-made clothes (the rule included myself, of course).”

Continue reading

Posted in Books and Authors, Eve Golden, Fashion, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo

April 13, 2012, Mystery Photo

Regular reader Earl Boebert sends along this mystery photo for Friday.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 34 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo – Newsboy Caps Again!

2012_0412_mystery_photo

A regular reader sends this along, in light of our recurring theme of newsboy caps.

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo – Where’s Larry Edition

titanic
“Titanic,” which has been keeping me busy these days. It is available for the Kindle and the Nook, but there’s been some mysterious delay since it was uploaded to iBooks.


In case you have noticed that posting has been thin lately and it’s been a few days since I had a mystery photo, there’s a reason.

I’ve been involved in two projects that have consumed much of my time. The first is an e-book on the Titanic that The Times has published, drawing entirely on our stories, with images mostly from our photo collection.

The Titanic project is unlike any other involving the centennial because it has original coverage of the disaster; the Senate inquiry; profiles of some of the survivors years later – and their obituaries; discovery of the wreckage; a review of “A Night to Remember” and heavy coverage of James Cameron’s “Titanic,” including a clash between Cameron and Times movie critic Kenneth Turan over his commentaries on the film.

Continue reading

Posted in Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Can One Be a True Christian and Protest the Coming of Colored, Japanese or Jewish Folk Into His Neighborhood?

Oct. 22, 1927, Integration

Oct. 22, 1927: “Can One Be a True Christian and Protest the Coming of Colored, Japanese or Jewish Folk Into His Neighborhood?” Food for thought at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church.

Posted in 1927, African Americans, Religion | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Can One Be a True Christian and Protest the Coming of Colored, Japanese or Jewish Folk Into His Neighborhood?

‘Negroes and Whites, Including Women, Mix in Unbelievable Orgies’

March 24, 1925, Hummingbird

March 24, 1925: I found this while researching something else and it’s too cool not to share.

Posted in 1925, African Americans, Food and Drink, Nightclubs | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Horse-Drawn Hearse
A postcard of a horse-drawn hearse listed on EBay with bidding starting at $2.50.


Queen of the Dead – dateline April 9, 2012

•  The Telegraph hits another one out of the ballpark with their tribute to Peregrine John Wishart Fairfax, 12th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who died on February 23 at 86. A Royal Lancer during the Allied advance through Italy, he later was a champion of the farming life. But here comes the creamy nougat center (sorry, centre) of the Telegraph’s obit, as they talk of his animal husbandry (watch that!) and “his passion for lurchers and longdogs” (I have no idea what that even means, but I blush just typing it). Fairfax kept a black and white rat with him during the war, till it was tragically eaten by locals, and—wait for it—“One of his party tricks was to dress for dinner, accessorised with a pair of white ferrets down his trousers. When he stood up, their red eyes would shine out from his nether regions in the candlelight.” Bliss! Thank you, Telegraph.

Continue reading

Posted in Art & Artists, Dance, Eve Golden, Film, Queen of the Dead, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

‘What’s the Matter With the Modern Woman?’

image

Oct. 25, 1924: “What’s the Matter With the Modern Woman?” also “Fast Young Women – Sowing the Wind and Reaping the Whirlwind.”

Posted in 1924, Religion | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 24

"Full Service" Cover

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge.

This is interesting. The city of Beverly Hills has compiled a list of architects and builders, arranged by street address. And although the list is from 1986, it doesn’t matter for a historic house like the one at 1110 Benedict Canyon Drive, where Scotty Bowers purportedly had his first Hollywood tryst with Walter Pidgeon and Jacob/Jack/Jacques Potts.

Fact-Checking “Full Service”: 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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23

 

Continue reading

Posted in 1946, Another Good Story Ruined, Architecture, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on ‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 24

Reading ‘Mad Men’ — Mom’s Edition

Books
The Daily Mirror HQ is not equipped to receive “Mad Men,” so the TV sensation is lost on us. However, several “Mad Men” reading lists are floating around the Web for possible inclusion on your Zombie Reading List:

The New York Public Library’s “Mad Men” Reading List

The Los Angeles Public Library’s “Mad Men” Reading List

Here are some titles that I recall from my mother’s pile of books in the “Mad Men” era. My mother was a fast and insatiable reader – and I was too young then to remember everything, especially all the books she got from the library – but  these are ones we had around the house.

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,”  (1952) by Shepherd Mead.

“Catcher in the Rye,” (1951) by J.D. Salinger.

“Hawaii,” (1959) by James Michener. Everybody was reading this book when it came out.

“Inside U.S.A.,” (1947) by John Gunther. This is from the 1940s, but everybody seemed to have one, usually next to a beat-up copy of “The Bluejackets’ Manual.”

“The Second Sex,” (1953) by Simone De Beauvoir.

“From Here to Eternity,” (1951) by James Jones.

“The Caine Mutiny,” (1951) by Herman Wouk.

Also from my mom’s bookshelves: “Kon-Tiki,” (1951) by Thor Heyerdahl; “The Sea Around Us,” (1952) by Rachel Carson; “The Magic Lantern,” (1953) by Robert Carson; “Not as a Stranger,” (1954) by Morton Thompson; “Why Johnny Can’t Read,” (1955) Rudolf Flesch (my mother’s possession of this book always baffled me because I read avidly from an early age); “Profiles in Courage,” (1956) by John F. Kennedy; “The Hidden Persuaders,” (1957) by Vance Packard; “The Winthrop Woman,” 1958, by Anya Seton — a book I never examined.

Posted in Books and Authors, Film, Libraries, Television | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Guards Shoot at Car Refusing to Halt Outside Army Camp; Man Near Death

April 5, 1942, Women in Uniform

April 5, 1942, Sentries Shoot Driver

April 5, 1942: Sentries fire at a car that refused to stop on a street leading to the Army camp in Alondra Park.  Ralph W. Spaulding, 26, was hospitalized after being shot in the head. Bessie Edwards, who suffered a broken leg when the car hit a tree after the shooting, said she didn’t remember who was driving.

Continue reading

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

Making Sense of the 1940 Census

Kerry Bartels of the National Archives in Riverside will give a presentation at the downtown Los Angeles Public Library on Thursday on the newly released 1940 census material. The presentation is at 12:15 p.m. in Meeting Room A. Bartels will be available for questions afterward.

Posted in 1940, Libraries | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 23

"Full Service" Cover

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge.

I’m examining the history of 1110 Benedict Canyon Drive, where, as far as I can tell, Scotty Bowers allegedly had his first tryst in Los Angeles in 1946 with Walter Pidgeon at the home of Jacob/Jack/Jacques Potts.

In the last post, I was mystified by the reference in a real estate ad to a “John Wolfe Regency.” Thanks to Lysandra Yaxley, who dug up a Vanity Fair article, I have found some answers about John Elgin “Jack” Woolf. And more questions.

Fact-Checking “Full Service”: 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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22

Continue reading

Posted in 1946, Another Good Story Ruined, Architecture, Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Libraries | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Full Service’: Fun With Fact-Checking, Part 22

"Full Service" cover

In case you just tuned in, I’m doing a little fact-checking as I go through Scotty Bowers’ “Full Service.” This will be fairly tedious except to a research drudge.

I’m examining the history of 1110 Benedict Canyon Drive, where, as far as I can tell, Scotty Bowers allegedly had his first tryst in Los Angeles in 1946 with Walter Pidgeon at the home of Jacob/Jack/Jacques Potts. There are numerous problems with Bowers’ account, including the statement that the house was across the street from Harold Lloyd’s estate, which is actually 0.2 of a mile away.

And there are conflicting descriptions of the driveway: was it paved or gravel? Details, details….

Fact-Checking “Full Service”: 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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21

Continue reading

Posted in 1946, Another Good Story Ruined, Architecture, Film, Hollywood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender | Tagged , , | 2 Comments