U.S. Moves to ‘War Time’

Posted on February 9, 2012 by lmharnisch

image

Feb. 9, 1942: It’s a sad day at the Daily Mirror HQ. No more Jimmie Fidler.

The U.S. moves to Daylight Saving Time “for the duration,” which will last until six months “after the day America wins the war,” The Times says.

You’ll find lots of African Americans in The Times – if you look at the “Situations Wanted” listings in the classified ads. Hm. One job seeker specifies “Gentiles.”

G.K. has a feature on Victor Mature: “Victor doesn’t like being likened to Valentino and isn’t in fact like him…. Is buying Valentino’s house for the view.”

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Posted in 1942, African Americans, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Religion, World War II | Tagged | 5 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on February 8, 2012 by lmharnisch

Mystery Photo

And this movie would be?  I know, too easy, right?

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

FBI Continues Raids on Japanese Homes

Posted on February 8, 2012 by lmharnisch

Feb. 8, 1942, FBI Raids Homes
Feb. 8, 1942, Comics

Feb. 8, 1942: FBI agents lead local law enforcement in the continuing raids on Japanese communities.  “Trunks and storerooms were ransacked, suspicious areas of newly turned earth were dug into and all buildings were carefully investigated,” The Times said. After a night’s work the raiders had seized 18 people, 17 of whom were turned over to immigration. Oh yes, they found a .38 revolver and what they called “war propaganda.”

Kyle Palmer, Richard Nixon’s future cheerleader in chief, looks at reluctance in Washington to calls for removing all Japanese.

“Reasons for the failure of the federal government to make prompt provision for the removal from Pacific Coast defense areas of American-born as well as alien Japanese are based on a feeling here that the citizenship rights of the native-born outweigh the menace to national security which their presence presents.”

I didn’t think it was possible for me to lose any more respect for Kyle Palmer — I figured I didn’t have any left. Whatever vaguely positive feeling  I had was gone.

John Gunther’s “Inside Latin American (nonfiction) and Mary Ellen Chase’s “Windswept” (fiction) lead the bestseller list.

Dwight Franklin, character designer for the studios, is featured in Philip K. Scheuer’s “Town Called Hollywood.” (Jimmie Fidler apparently has the day off).

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Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Books and Authors, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Washington, World War II | Tagged | Comments Off on FBI Continues Raids on Japanese Homes

Me vs. Wikipedia

Posted on February 7, 2012 by lmharnisch


no_wikipedia

I drew a range of reactions with my recent post “A World Without Wikipedia: Not Such a Bad Idea,”  in which I said “I don’t know a single serious researcher who considers it anything other than a joke.”

That isn’t precisely true. Most of the scholars, historians and academics I have met do think Wikipedia is a joke — except for the ones who find it an incredibly frustrating cesspool of misinformation. And I don’t know of any college professors who allow students to use it in term papers. That should tell you something about the caliber of its information. In fact, I recently had a conversation with Suzanne Stone, senior researcher for “Jeopardy,” and she, too, said Wikipedia is literally not ready for prime time.  (And for the record, the L.A. Daily Mirror is designated a Wikipedia-free zone).

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Posted in History, Libraries | Tagged , | 29 Comments

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on February 6, 2012 by lmharnisch

Lincoln's Funeral

Image: President Lincoln’s Funeral at the White House, listed on EBay at $375.

Queen of the Dead – dateline February 6, 2012

•  The Prettiest Girl in All of Turkey has died: 98-year-old Keriman Halis Ece, on January 28. She won the Miss Turkey pageant in 1932, and Google-imaging her reveals a pleasant young Barbara Stanwyck-looking type. She then went on to win (are you sitting down, and not drinking anything?) the International Pageant of Pulchritude held in Belgium that same year. (I go all Jayne Mansfield even typing that.) Ece came from an impressive family: her uncle and aunt were composers and musicians, her brother a well-known sportsman, but I can’t find much about what she did later in life. I guess once you have been crowned Princess of Pulchritude, everything else is pretty much downhill.

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Posted in Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood, Music, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on February 5, 2012 by lmharnisch

Movieland Mystery Photo

I was watching this movie the other day and thought:  that’s….

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

Body of Kidnapped Girl Found in Riverbed

Posted on February 4, 2012 by lmharnisch

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Feb. 4, 1942, Missing Girl Found

Feb. 4, 1942: “As Coroner R.E. Williams and his aides bore the pitiful little body, still clad in her gay blue and white striped red school dress, toward town for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, the hundreds of law enforcement officers and volunteers turned in cold fury to the grim job of tracking down her murderer.”

Shirley Marie Bell, 6, was found in Cajon Wash, strangled with her jump rope. She was apparently abducted on her way to school. Several people reported seeing her on the handlebars of a bicycle ridden by a man headed for the desert. She was crying, one rancher said.

Searchers found the tracks of a man and a child leading into the desert. Then signs of a scuffle and Shirley’s lunchbox.

As news of the tragedy spread among the searchers and onlookers, angry mutterings that the murderer should pay with his life on the end of a rope swelled through the crowd. Sheriff [Emmet L. ] Shay said nothing at this but directed his deputies to be on the alert to guard the life of the suspect, if and when found.

Several men were questioned in the case, and in 1946 suspect John William Carlson showed a surprising amount of knowledge about the incident, although he eventually recanted his story. The killing was never solved.

“It Started With Eve” is opening at the Pantages Hollywood and RKO Hill Street, with “Confessions of Boston Blackie.”

Jimmie Fidler says: Nelson Eddy, who stands so erect, sprawls on chairs and divans.

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Posted in 1942, A Kinder, Simpler Time, Art & Artists, Cold Cases, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Jimmie Fidler, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on February 3, 2012 by lmharnisch

Feb. 3, 2012, Mystery Photo
[Update: This is Glen Boles. Please congratulate Mike Hawks and Mary Mallory for identifying him!]

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

L.A. County Board Recommends Roundup of All Japanese

Posted on February 3, 2012 by lmharnisch

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Feb. 3, 1942, Comics

Feb. 3, 1942: The FBI, police and sheriff’s deputies round up 336 “alien Japanese fishermen” on Terminal Island.

“Operating with machine-like efficiency, the FBI agents, headed by J.W. Vincent, in charge of operations, had prepared lists of the names and addresses of all those for whom warrants had been issued,” The Times says.

But that’s not good enough. The Los Angeles County Defense Council  wants to round up “all enemy aliens INCLUDING AMERICAN-BORN JAPANESE UNABLE TO PROVE THEY DO NOT HOLD DUAL CITIZENSHIP.”

After chiding the government for taking so long to round up the Japanese, The Times editorial page says:

“This is a necessary measure, as much for the protection of enemy aliens as for the protection of the United States, and well-disposed aliens will comply with the regulations to the letter. Others will feel the weight of the law. This is war.”

An unidentified California congressman said: “There is no hatred for the Japanese on the Pacific Coast and the demands for ordinary precautions in this situation represent neither hysteria nor any attempts at reprisal for what happened at Pearl Harbor.”

Jimmie Fidler says: Dorothy Lamour has inaugurated the idea of giving Defense Stamps as tips.

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Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Angry Butcher Cuts Wife’s Throat

Posted on February 2, 2012 by lmharnisch

Feb. 2, 1942, Marshall Islands

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Betty Rowland at the Follies!

6152 Agra St., Bell Gardens
Photo: 6152 Agra St. Credit: Google Street View.

Feb. 2, 1942: Lewis Buell Chase dialed the sheriff’s substation in Firestone Park and told a deputy: “I have just murdered a woman.”

He had gone to the home of his estranged wife, Susie, at 6152 Agra St., Bell Gardens, to see if she would sign some papers. They argued, and as their 11-year-old son, Robert, played outside, he slashed her jugular vein with a boning knife.

He was convicted of first-degree murder with a recommendation of life in prison. Robert Chase was left in the custody of his grandmother, Mrs. Roxie Shipp, also of Bell Gardens.

Police are also investigating the shooting of palm reader Madame Lorraine, allegedly by her protege, Charlotte Jean Le Nord.

The women, described as “motion picture fans,” had recently seen a film involving Russian roulette and police speculate that they were imitating the movie when the shooting occurred. I guess she didn’t see that one coming.

In cage ball, referees at a game between Southern Oregon College and Monmouth were kept off the floor. Instead, the officials were placed in two “crow’s nests” behind the baskets.

Coaches, players and fans say the system is an improvement, allowing a faster game.

Referee Frank O’Neil said: “It virtually eliminated petty pushing, hacking and the like. Players found they couldn’t get away with it and didn’t try.”

Jimmie Fidler says: The fact that  eight out of 1941’s top 10 box office stars were men (Bette Davis and Judy Garland were the exceptions) points directly to my oft-repeated statement that there is too much sameness among actresses.

(The eight men are: Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Gene Autry, Jimmy Cagney, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy and Abbott and Costello.)

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Posted in 1942, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Jimmie Fidler, Sports, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

William Desmond Taylor Shot!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Feb. 3, 1922, William Desmond Taylor

Mary Mallory points out that this is the 90th anniversary of William Desmond Taylor’s death. I did several posts when the Daily Mirror was at The Times:

William Desmond Taylor, Mystery Guest | Crime scene photos

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Posted in 1922, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide | Tagged | 7 Comments

Stravinsky Premieres ‘Danses Concertantes’ in Los Angeles

Posted on February 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Feb. 1, 1942, Japan Unmasked

Feb. 1, 1942, Igor Stravinsky
Feb. 1, 1942: The Times serializes Hallett Abend’s “Japan Unmasked.” Abend (d. 1955) was The Times city editor from 1920 to 1924 and was later a Far East correspondent for the New York Times.  (Note: An interesting line from his obituary: “He had been living in recent weeks with a longtime friend, Morgan Craig.”  A little digging reveals that Craig was not a longtime friend. He was Abend’s son. Oops. )

When I waxed hot and angry because of my own certainties, and offered bets at odds that we would be at war with Japan by Christmas of 1941, I was looked at pityingly for a fool.

The Werner Janssen Orchestra premieres Igor Stravinsky’s “Danses Concertantes,” his first work composed in the United States.   As is often the case, The Times clips are a mixed blessing. The concert was covered, which is good, but it was reviewed by longtime critic Isabel Morse Jones, whose mangled review of a “Don Giovanni” performance is one of the most unintentionally humorous critiques I have ever read.

The woman who thought the Don got his way with women all through Mozart’s opera (sorry, no, that’s part of the joke) does not disappoint with lines like:

Stravinsky’s conducting is an aid to the audience as well as the orchestra. It, too, is streamlined and watching him, one is reminded that it is the merest chance that he wasn’t a dancer instead of the most important modern composer to write music for the ballet.

Jimmie Fidler says: After seven years as a 20th Century-Fox star, Jane Withers is leaving that studio to freelance. I doff my bonnet to Jane (and her manager-mamma) for pluck shown in making this move. I know she was offered a huge salary to stay on and in current times it takes nerve to turn down a sure thing.

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Posted in 1942, Books and Authors, Columnists, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, World War II | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo – Newsboy Cap Edition [Updated +]

Posted on February 1, 2012 by lmharnisch

Movieland Mystery Photo

Almost everybody wears a newsboy cap in this film. What could it be?
[Please congratulate Dewey Webb, Mike Hawks, Don Danard, Mary Mallory and Rotter for identifying the movie — or our mystery fellow in the incredible sweater. ]

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

U.S. Urged to Evacuate Japanese Immediately

Posted on January 31, 2012 by lmharnisch

Jan. 31, 1942, Japanese Evacuation

Jan. 31, 1942, Comics

Jan. 31, 1942: Members of Congress from the West Coast call on the U.S. to expedite the evacuation of “enemy aliens,” a term that includes native-born people of Japanese ancestry. Officials concede that some of them may be loyal – but in wartime, why take a chance?

Note the byline: Kyle Palmer, who would forge a dubious legacy as one of Richard Nixon’s most ardent and unquestioning cheerleaders. (Nixon was, in fact, a pallbearer at Palmer’s funeral.).

Palmer’s inverted sentence structure is particularly remarkable:

Taking sharp issue with the leisurely program of the Department of Justice for evacuating enemy aliens and possible sympathizers from Pacific Coast defense areas, members of Congress from California, Oregon and Washington today approved recommendations calling for immediate action.

And:

Speedy exercise of authority by President Roosevelt and Army and Navy authorities to clear the vital defense areas of enemy aliens at once was advocated.

And:

Expressions of dissatisfaction with the government’s procedure to date with indicated plans for carrying out the evacuation program were voiced by those attending the conference of Western States representatives.

And so on.

It reminds me of Wolcott Gibbs’ satire on the language once used in Time magazine:  “Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind. Where it will all end, knows God.” This odd, stiff language also appears in the opening newsreel portion of “Citizen Kane” and I’m sure it was intentional.

Dateline Ennis, Texas. “Seven Negroes were killed and a white woman was injured when a tornado leveled two houses” in Bristol.  No names are provided on the seven dead blacks, but the injured white woman is Mrs. Walter Sparkman.

Ouch. The old newspapers are full of this kind of thing.

A few days ago,I posted that Traffic Engineer R.T. Dorsey was advocating a program of staggered work shifts to reduce downtown traffic. I wondered at the time whether rationing of gas and tires — and the halt in passenger car production — would increase the use of mass transit.

The answer is: yes.

Los Angeles Railway officials announce that use of streetcars and buses increased 7.3% since April. Pacific Electric passenger revenue is up 20% for the first three weeks of January, compared to a year ago.

“The Man Who Came to Dinner” opens at Warners Hollywood and Downtown.

Jimmie Fidler says: CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNIQUE to Dorothy Lamour — I commend your fine attitude when, after working hard for Defense Bond sales and then being denied the privilege of visiting an airplane factory because “your presence would delay production,” you were American enough to refuse a higher-up’s offer to intervene for you.
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Posted in 1942, African Americans, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Freeways, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, Politics, Richard Nixon, Streetcars, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on U.S. Urged to Evacuate Japanese Immediately

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Posted on January 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

Jan. 30, 2012, Mystery Photo

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

[Update: This is Emlyn Williams. Please congratulate former Mystery Photo star B.J. Merholz, Mike Hawks and Mary Mallory for identifying him! ]

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

Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on January 30, 2012 by lmharnisch

Bonneville hearse

Photo: A 1986 Pontiac Bonneville hearse listed on EBay with bids starting at $3,350.

Queen of the Dead – dateline January 30, 2012

•  I was never a Star Trek fan—so pompous so serious. I preferred the high-camp vaudeville antics of Lost in Space: June Lockhart making chocolate cake in the back yard of an asteroid; the nelly, Franklin Pangborn-esque Dr. Smith; rubber-costumed aliens. So I was sad to hear of the death on January 22 of Dick Tufield, 85, who voiced the sarcastic Robot, always sparring with the great Jonathan Harris. Tufield began his career as a radio announcer, moving to TV in the 1950s. He was a newscaster in Los Angeles, padding out his paycheck with voice work on such shows as Space Patrol, Surfside 6, The Judy Garland Show, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and others—as recently as 2004, he voiced the Robot on a Simpsons episode. Tufield called Lost in Space fans “unbelievably loyal, impassioned; with a hunger for LIS knowledge, both current and archival,” and in 2005 fondly recalled trading Olsen and Johnson jokes on-set with actor Bob May, who was actually scrunched-up inside the Robot.

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Posted in Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead, Television | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Live Blogging ‘-30-’ on TCM

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

Dewey Webb gets into the “-30-” spirit with a 1959 ad from Variety. Thanks, Dewey!

Jack Webb "-30-"
(I swear, the guy in the travelogue called it Aloe Vera Street.)

And that’s “-30-”

Ready to go home, Lady?

Gosh, genuine ugly 1950s layout.

What’s that noise, son? They’re firing up the Web pages and putting stories online!

Heartwarming kid alert!

C’mon Sam…

Everybody thinks I’d be such a good father. I wouldn’t.

SFX: Bell ringing for the press start. Bathgate *promises* no replates.

Are those Steelcase desks?

Be sure to send your color early…..

They found her. Get plenty of sidebar stuff!
Lady types with two fingers!

Notice that people have written their names on the back of the chairs. We still do this. ONE of the biggest sins in the newsroom is to take someone’s chair.

David Nelson: Man up!

2 col cut with 3-col hed on Lady’s grandson…. nevermind the little girl in the storm drain. SFX: Phone

We bring you this word from orphanage lobby. Poor Lady… A Florabel Muir clone. She can go cover Mickey Cohen.

A power greater than we are? That sounds like A.A.!

Poor Lady… hanging on in the news business. Jack Webb isn’t religious but he believes in *something*

Oh. Smoking in the newsroom.

The editor is threatening the public works department?

And what’s across the street? Is it a burger stand or a hotel? The signs keep changing.

Uh-oh. Lady’s grandson is toast. Overacting at 12 o’clock high!

Oh she wrote it longhand while she was waiting for the car… oh, uh, and she took pictures. Oooh she’s shooting 35.

NO. NOBODY SIZES PHOTOS LIKE THAT NO WAY. I have talked to people who have seen it done — maybe. But I have never seen it done. Ever.

The Valley’s flooded? NOOOOOOOOO.

It’s got print on it. It gives a lot of information to a lot of people who wouldn’t get it if we didn’t give it to them. Yeah, it’s a newspaper, it only costs 10 cents. But even if you only read the comics it’s the best buy for your money in the world.

It’s just a newspaper — it’s not like we joined the priesthood.

Give her a byline. ON HER FIRST NIGHT?

Lady make this an insert high in your lede.

Miss Reentry Nosecone?

The religion editor is the real estate editor?

Webb: How are the Dodgers doing? Sports guy: It’s football season. Yet another editor who doesn’t read the sports section.

SFX: Bongo drums!

I’m sorry. I tried to keep the adjectives down!

Oh for the days of those eight-column pages!

The heck with the story about smog and its effect on juvenile delinquency?

16 cols:

2 8-col cuts

Danger kids stay out of these!

The girl’s parents have barricaded themselves in the house and won’t talk to reporters? The TV crews are there? Let’s tweet this thing!

She just got BACK from covering the strangler story? She just left!

OOOH! It’s a chart of the L.A. storm drains — left over from “Them!”

Richard Deacon as the staff artist… Draw a dog? A cat? A pig, with a squiggly tail? My pitiful little job is to retouch pictures. Richard! You cad!!

Get “THE WOMEN’S ANGLE” on the arrest of the strangler?

Inside reference to the Mirror-News!!!

Oh, too good to write obits, eh? Miss effing Smith graduate?

Suppose I turn out to be a really good reporter regardless of how I got the job (She’s a Smith graduate!)

NANCY VALENTINE. YAY!!!!

Rewrite… Ashton puts on a headset!

“An adopted child wouldn’t be ours.”

Webb forbids his wife to come to the office during working hours? What??

OK, let me get this straight. It’s raining outside the office. And a 3-year-old girl is missing in the storm drains. Hm.

Cue Whitney Blake!

Looks like Whittinghill got his client into the paper. Instead of the whooping cranes.

They just caught the guy who strangled those three girls? Update L.A.Now!

Did someone say the 3-year-old girl wandered into the storm drains?

Gee, I sure hope we can beat The Times to the street tonight with that one (wild art of whooping cranes).

Erm. There aren’t any women editors. Why is that?

OH THE NEWS MEETING!

Um, did someone say a 3-year-old is missing?

Uh-oh they just got a directive against giving raises.

Oooh a tour of the newspaper!

What? Newspapers retouch pictures???

Jack Webb deals with PR guy (Dick Whittinghill).

Richard Deacon…. YAY!

William Conrad (Bathgate) started as a copy boy!

Joe Flynn: News photographer!

What? A guy in the composing room is taking bets? I’m shocked.

Oh that’s not a proper eyeshade!

Fact: William Conrad and Jack Webb worked in radio together.

Lgend for many years was that “-30-” was filmed at the Examiner. In fact Jack Webb built a duplicate of the newsroom on a sound stage.

Ooh. the paper has 300,000 circ!

Overture has “Boy!”

MARK VII!

The story of a day in the life of a big-city paper.

Factoid about “Elmer Gantry”: Examiner City Editor James Richardson plays a newspaper man in it.

Vampires? OOh. “House of Dark Shadows!”

Robert Osborne… does the “outro.”

Here we go!

1755: We’re live with “The D.I.” One of my friends says this is Jack Webb’s best movie.

1756: Fake Southern accent alert!

1758: Tough drill sergeant in dress shop — comedy relief!

1759: Cleaning the M-1

1800: Those rifles cost your government $80 apiece!

1803: Score by David Buttolph

1805: Moore is the most devoted man I ever knew.

1807: “You’re awfully strict, aren’t you?”
“And what if I am. Is that bad?”

1808: A friend said a circle in the water is like a man’s life. It gets bigger and bigger and then it’s gone.

1810: You better go find yourself a man in a tuxedo.

1814: I don’t baby anybody, sir.

1815: You’re not a civilian anymore, Pvt. Owens.

1816: I’m mixed up, sir.

1821: You have two brothers in the Marine Corps?
I had two brothers in the Marine Corps, sir.

1826: gas mask drill.

1827: General Discharge for Pvt. Owens

1829: Pvt. Owens’ mother, the widow of a Marine officer, explains things to the captain. You WILL make a Marine out of him. You WILL NOT let him quit!

1836: Pvt. Owens do you want me to sign your discharge?

1838: Is she enticing Sgt. Moore into the back room?

1840: EXT Day. The parade field

1845: Do you think you can carry this?
Yes sir!
I think so too!

Marine Corps Hymn and out!

Posted in 1959, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 25 Comments

Coming Tonight: Live Blogging ‘-30-’

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

'-30-'
Photo: Jack Webb, William Conrad and James Bell in “-30-”

TCM is airing Jack Webb’s “-30-” at 7 tonight Pacific time. I’m going to try live blogging just to see how it goes. Tune in for the fun and/or mayhem.

Posted in 1959, Film, Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated +]

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

Mystery Photo

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

Continue reading →

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

FBI Smashes Nazi Spy Ring in Beverly Hills: 3 Sent Coded Letters to Third Reich

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lmharnisch

Jan. 29, 1942, Spy Ring

Jan. 29, 1942, Comics

Jan. 29, 1942: The FBI accuses Dr. Hans Helmut Gros, his wife, Frances, and Albrecht Rudolf Curt Reuter of belonging to a Nazi spy ring.

According to allegations, Gros, of 328 N. Maple Drive, sent letters to purported relatives that contained coded information and newspaper clippings about “union labor strife, strikes, shortages of materials needed for military production and items regarding troop movements, training and airplane production.”

Reuter, of 447 N. Bedford Drive, was accused of helping Gros. The Times said he owned an art gallery and imported Oriental rugs.

A City Council committee is investigating a “purge” of the LAPD led by Inspector of Detectives E.C. Biffle, who allegedly met with certain detectives as soon as they were eligible for retirement and told them to go — which they called “being Biffleized.”

Biffle said he was acting on behalf of Police Chief C.B. Horrall, who told him to “do everything necessary to produce an honest and efficient detective bureau.”

Among those Biffleized was former Chief R.E. Steckel, who said that Mayor Fletcher Bowron purged him by mistake and explained that reinstatement was impossible.

City Traffic Engineer R.T. Dorsey recommends that downtown employees work staggered shifts to avoid traffic jams. How is it possible to have traffic jams in 1942, when gas rationing was a powerful incentive to take mass transit and the city still had most of its streetcar system? As I keep saying: Traffic in Los Angeles is not a new problem. It is a very old problem that we are still struggling to solve.

6503 Wilcox, Bell
Photo: Gen. Sampson Sanders Simmons’ CSA HQ! Credit: Google Street View. Apparently the paint crews had a hard time figuring out where the line should go down the middle of the street. Forget it, Jake. It’s Bell.

Gen. Sampson Sanders Simmons, a courier for Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War, dies at the age of 98 after breaking his hip in a fall in his home at 6503 Wilcox Ave., Bell.

Simmons was the last survivor of Camp 770 of the United Confederate Veterans and commander of the organization’s Pacific Division. He was buried at Inglewood Cemetery, wrapped in a Confederate flag.

Supposedly, Simmons recorded what was billed as an authentic rebel yell for the MGM movie “Operator 13,” which was on TCM earlier this month. Since I DVR’d it, I’ll have to check.

“The Shanghai Gesture” opens at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and Loew’s State.

Jimmie Fidler says:Hal (Great Gildersleeve) Peary, who lives in Encino, a Los Angeles suburb, brings in four working residents daily, thereby helping them conserve gas and tires.

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Posted in 1942, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler, LAPD, Streetcars, Theaters, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments